Introduction: Balance is the ability to effectively maintain body posture in a static or dynamic environment. Core muscles contribute to spinal stability and consequently to whole body balance. Pilates is one type of exercise that can strengthen the core muscles. The purpose was to review the results of randomised controlled trials on the effects the Pilates exercise have on the core stability and balance in older adults. Methods: Literature search for the systematic review was performed on the Web of Science database. The following keywords were used: Pilates, core stability, elderly. Results: The systematic review of the literature included seven articles that discussed the effect of Pilates exercise on balance of older adults. Five of them reported the clinically important improvement of static and dynamic balance, one reported statistically but not clinically important effect and one reported no change after Pilates training. However, they did not report the direct effect of exercise on the core stabilizing muscles. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this review we can conclude that the Pilates exercises are effective for balance improvement in older adults. Future research should address the effects of the Pilates exercise on the core muscles of the elderly as well as to establish the optimal type of the Pilates exercise and the optimal volume of the exercise programmes for improving the balance.
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