The aim of the master's thesis was to examine the effects of the integration of balance training stations in the living environment of the elderly people.
The study involved 84 elderly people, which we dividet into 2 control and 2 exercise groups. In the first group were 25 elderly people (64 ± 3 years), who lived in a senior citizens home in Fužine (stanovalci DSO). The second group were 23 active elderly (66,3 ± 4,4 years), who engaged in daily activities in the activity center Fužine (člani CAF). The exercise groups were using the integraded balance training stations, the control groups were not using the balance stations and continued in their daily activities as before. Before and after the exercise intervention we performed static and dinamic balance tests (stands on tensiometric plate and Y-test). During the intervention we monitored how the elderly liked the exercised, how difficult it seemed to them and how many exercises were they performing during the week.
The results of our measurments showed, that »člani CAF« had similar views of how they liked the exercises, regardless of the complexity of the exercise itself and the week in which they performed the exercise, while »stanovalci DSO« showed a slightly lower score for both loghter and harder exercises. In the results of the use of the track, the share of the use of lighter exercises decreased over four weeks, while the share of the use of heavier exercises increased. In all sensory organization tests in VAD CAF, there was no statistically significant decrease in the total ground reaction force (OSRP) grip velocity and the OSRP velocity in the AP and ML directions. In VAD DSO group, a statistically significant decrease in total OSRP velocity was seen under conditions of parallel standing on a hard surface with open eyes, while no statistically significant differences occurred in the other parameters.
In the Y-test, VAD CAF and KON CAF members in the training and control groups improved their score in all three directions. In VAD DSO in KON DSO group, there was an improvement in both groups in the postero-medial and postero-lateral direction, while the result in the anterior direction was improved only by the exercise group. According to the results of the mini BESTest, the numer overall score was higher in CAF members, then in DSO residents.
The integration of balance training stations into the living environment can have a positive effect on improving the balance of the elderly and thus act as a prevention against falls. Group implementation of exercises encourages peer cooperation and has a positive effect on social inclusion and loneliness, which is especially important for the elderly who live in nursing homes.
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