Introduction: Good balance is a necessary skill in everyday life. It requires contributions from the visual, vestibular and proprioceptive system, sufficient muscular strength, reaction time and sufficient flexibility. With age those systems progressively lose their functionality, which leads to a balance deficit. Flexibility is associated with elderly people falling more often. Several researches have suggested that age-related changes in balance, walking, joint movement and muscle strength are directly related to the limitations in joint range of motion. Joint range of motion can be improved with a low-intensity therapeutic program that can enhance the change in function of balance and walking in old age. Purpose: Based on the literature review the goal was to present the effect of lower limb joint flexibility on balance in elderly. Methods: The literature review was based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Relevant literature was searched in the following databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopio, WebOfKnowledge and Elsevier. The review included articles written in English or Slovenian that were freely accessible. They studied the elderly and used goniometric measurements of lower limb mobility as a testing tool. Some of the articles studied flexibility in relation to balance in elderly. At least 3 articles focused on hips, knees and ankles. Results: The literature review included 9 articles examining the effect of lower limb joint mobility on balance in elderly people. All of the studies confirmed that joint mobility plays an important role in maintaining and improving balance in elderly. The most important types of movement for maintaining or improving balance are ankle dorsiflexion and hip extension. The key to improve mobility lies in an appropriate therapeutic program that includes long stretches of movement (30 seconds and more). Discussion and conclusion: The review helped to determine a link between reduced mobility and aging, a link between reduced mobility and increased incidence of falls, and a link between improved mobility and improved walk parameters. Increased lower limb joint mobility proved to be an important element in improving balance in elderly people. At the moment there is no agreement about a single therapeutic program for improving flexibility and mobility in elderly, which means that this area offers the opportunity for further research.
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