The Effect of Water Therapy and Jogging Exercises on the Health-Related Factors of Physical Fitness of Elderly Women

Abstract

Objectives:  The aim of this research was to study the effects of a course of water therapy and jogging on factors related to the physical fitness of elderly women. Methods:  Semi experimental study was performed by pretest-posttest design in which elderly women over 60 (64.3 ± 2.5 years old) were randomly divided into 3 groups of water therapy exercises, jogging group (JG) and control group (CG). Factors related to physical fitness (lower limb muscle strength test, static balance, dynamic balance and physical flexibility) before and after interventional exercises. One-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test were applied to analyze the data. Results:  It was shown that both water therapy exercises and jogging had a significant effect on static (P = 0.03), dynamic (P = 0.04), lower limb strength [P = 0.03 and (P = 0.01) for WTE and JG, respectively] and physical flexibility scores (P = 0.03), but there was no significant difference between the two experimental groups in all research variables (P ≥ 0.05). Conclusions:  The use of water therapy and jogging exercises leads to improved static and dynamic balance, muscular strength of the lower extremities. Since improving the motor performance variables has a significant effect on preventing the falling of the elderly, it is recommended to use these exercises for the elderly.