Body balance and fall risk in elderly women who practice physical activities and sedentary

Abstract

The elderly people is raising, and along with them, there is the need of studing the issues related to the aging. And one of them is the body balance, a subject very studied on this phase, because its reduction is a predisposing factor for falls that generate a reduction in the independence and quality of life of the elderly. The objective of this study is to assess if the practice of regular physical activity influences or not on the maintenance of body balance and consequent prevention of the falls among elderly women. For such, participated in the survey, 40 elderly women from Franca, aged between 68 and 78 years, separated on to groups, the active group (GA, n=20) and the sedentary group (GS, n=20). On the GA, elderly women had to practice physical activity regularly for, at least, two years, twice a week. The evaluation was based on an identification questionnaire about the practice of physical activities and fall incidence for the last six months, the Berg Balance Scale and the Timed “Up & Go” Test. The results were statistically analyzed, which was confirmed that there is a positive relation between the practice of physical activities and balance maintenance, for the BBS (p< 0,0001) and the TUG (p< 0,0001), and consequently reducing the fall risk among elderly women who practice physical activities. We conclude that the practice of regular physical activity influences positively on the maintenance of body balance, and along with that, the fall risk is lower for physically active elderly women.