Effect of Six-week Performance of Selected Pilates Exercises on Some of the Osteoporosis-related Indicators among Postmenopausal Women

Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease that can be prevented and cured. One of the most important and effective non-pharmacological interventions is performing proper physical activities. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of 6-week performance of selected Pilates exercises for 6 weeks on some of the indicators associated with osteoporosis among postmenopausal women. This quasi-experimental research with a pretest-posttest design was conducted on 22 inactive postmenopausal women who participated voluntarily in this study. The subjects were divided into two groups of control and selected Pilates exercises (n=11 each). Bone alkaline phosphatase, calcium, and phosphorus were measured 24 h before and after the intervention. To analyze the data, one-way analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post hoc test were used for outgroup comparison. The mean scores of age and body mass index of subjects were obtained at 52.87±4.58 years and 29.72 ±3.68, respectively. The results of this study showed that after 6 weeks of exercising, there was a significant difference between the two groups of Pilates and control in the bone alkaline phosphatase, calcium, and phosphorus indices of postmenopausal women (P≤0.05). Accordingly, all three indices increased significantly. Based on the results, 6 weeks of Pilates exercises improved some of the skeletal structural features of postmenopausal women. Therefore, it can be stated that if physical exercises are performed regularly and for a long time, they can be preventive factors of bone-related diseases in postmenopausal women.