Department of Physiotherapy, College of Applied Education and Health Sciences, CAEHS, Meerut
Online published on 1 October, 2011.
Fall prevention program is an important health strategy for elderly population. Thus, there is a need to develop effective balance training programs that improve balance in elderly.
To compare the effect of balance training on foam platform and on floor for the improvement of balance scores in the geriatric population.
The study is a randomized controlled trial. 30 Elderly subjects, with age ranging from 60 - 75 yrs, were taken from Outpatient Department of CAEHS, Meerut. Subjects were divided into two groups: experimental and control. Experimental group (n=15) were given balance training on Foam Platform and Control group (n=15) were given balance training on floor. All the subjects received balance training for 5 days a week for 30 minutes for 4 weeks. Balance scores of all the subjects were taken in the beginning and at the end of 4 weeks using Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Functional Reach Test (FRT). Data was analyzed using student's t-test.
The mean & standard deviation values of experimental group for FRT on day ‘30’ were 10.2 ± 1.52 and BBS on day ‘30’ 55.26 ±.96. The mean & standard deviation of control group for FRT on day ‘30’ was 9.0 ± 1.25and BBS on day ‘30’ was 52.26 ± 2.91. The p values obtained were significant i.e. p value was less than 0.05.
Balance training on foam platform was found to be more effective than balance training on floor.
