Effects of eight weeks Otago home-based exercises on balance, quality of life and fear of falling in elderly people

 Physical activity can slow down the body's destructive process in old age. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of eight weeks of home-based Otago exercise on balance, quality of life and fear of falling of the elderly.

 26 elderly people over 60 years old in Arak city participated in this semi-experimental study voluntarily and were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (each group includes 9 women and 4 men). The experimental group performed Otago exercises for 8 weeks 3 sessions per week for 60 minutes each session. The control group had a normal routine during this period. Static and dynamic balance, fear of falling and quality of life were assessed using 4 stage static balance test and timed up and go test, Falls Efficacy Scale-International Questionnaire (FES-I) and Older People’s Quality of Life Questionnaire (OPQOL-35), respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of covariance test and SPSS software version 22 (P<0.05).

 The results of statistical analysis showed a significant improvement in static (P<0.001) and dynamic balance (P<0.001), quality of life (P<0.001) and fear of falling (P<0.001) in the Otago compared to the control group.

 Due to the limitations of the elderly to perform physical activity outdoors, especially in the pandemic conditions of Covid-19 disease and the positive effects of performing Otago home-based exercise in the present study, it is recommended to use this training method to increase the quality of life and balance and reduce the fear of falling of the elderly.