The purpose of study was to create an exercise program for people with osteopenia or osteo-porosis that takes place in a natural environment and is aimed at developing muscle strength and balance and check the impact of this exercise program on improving muscle strength, mobility, endurance, balance and quality of life.
The research included 15 participants which were divided into two groups. The first group (10 participants) performed strength and balance training in nature, while the second group (5 participants) called control group did not perform training. The exercise was performed twice a week for 45 minutes and lasted for 8 weeks. The workout consisted of 10 different exercises to develop strength and balance. Before the start and end of the research, we car-ried out measurements that included strength, mobility, endurance and balance tests. In addi-tion to the tests, the participants completed the QUALEFFO-41 questionnaire on quality of life.
The results showed a statistically significant improvement in balance in the exercise group, namely in the single leg posterior reach test (∆13%, P<0.05), the differences between the changes in exercise group and control group were statistically significant (P<0.05). Also, the exercise group significantly improved the results in the single leg anterior reach test (∆42%, P<0.05) and the 6-minute walk test (∆34%, P<0.05). However, the differences between the changes in the control and exercise groups were not statistically significant. Exercise im-proved the quality of life, as the exercise group reduced the total number of points, which, based on scoring, means an improvement (∆-30%, P<0.001), the differences between the changes in the exercise and control groups were statistically significant (P<0.005).
We found that training for strength and balance in nature has a positive effect on balance and endurance, and especially improves the quality of life of elderly people with osteopenia or osteoporosis.
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