فعالیت بدنی انفرادی و گروهی موجب بهبود ترس از افتادن زنان سالمند می‌شود

Introduction: The world’s population is gradually aging. According to the definition of the United Nations, the elderly are individuals whose age is 60 years or older. It is predicted that by 2025, the number of elderly people in the world will significantly increase. With increasing age and reaching this period, the risk of diseases increases and functional abilities decrease. Problems that occur with increasing age are potentially preventable and even reversible, thus aging can be accompanied by minimal disability, which can enable the achievement of successful aging goals. Disability is a multifactorial condition in old age characterized by a reduction in physiological reserve, such that the ability to cope with stressors decreases. Fried describes the criteria for frailty and disability as unintentional weight and muscle mass loss, fatigue, low physical activity, slowness, and decreased grip strength. Frailty and disability increase the risk of falls, fractures, and mortality in the elderly. Falling is the sixth leading cause of death in the elderly population, which is of great importance in injuries and diseases and occurs with increasing age. Falls are associated with physical, psychological, and economic complications, one of which is hospitalization. Research has shown that the probability of falling is higher in women than in men, and with increasing age, the prevalence of falls increases. The higher prevalence of falls in women may be due to reduced bone mass and muscle mass loss compared to men. Fear of falling is one of the complications of falling that can lead to muscle weakness and reduced mobility. Fear of falling is a predictor of low physical activity in the elderly. Regular physical activity has been shown to be one of the important and essential components of active longevity, which can significantly benefit the elderly and bring benefits to the entire community. For example, Savakis et al. (2024) found that physical activity interventions focusing on muscle strengthening, balance improvement, and mobility training can significantly reduce falls and minimize associated fear in the elderly. The results indicate that muscle strengthening may have a positive effect on physiological mechanisms and reduce the risk of falls. It appears that older adults can benefit from early intervention and still be able to perform intense exercises to strengthen their neuromuscular system. Physical activity can be used as an effective intervention to reduce the incidence of falls, promote balance and walking functions, improve recovery after falls, and improve mood. As a result, it reduces the fear of falling while enabling more daily activities without falling. Due to their physical condition, reduced physical strength, and decreased performance, older adults seek to participate in sports with a lower risk of injury. Therefore, two physical activities, aerobic exercise and walking, can be recommended for the elderly. Statistical studies show that population aging will be one of the country’s fundamental challenges in the coming years that society will have to face. This situation will be hazardous if the elderly has poor health and irreversible complications threaten society.

Methods: The present study was conducted using a quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test design. The participants in this study were elderly women aged 65 to 75 residing in Tehran in the year 1402 (solar calendar). 40 individuals were selected using convenience sampling. The subjects underwent training for eight weeks, placed in four groups of 10 people each. The aerobic exercise program was implemented for 8 weeks, with a frequency of three sessions per week, each lasting 30 minutes, with the consent of the participants. The walking exercise protocol consisted of 8 sessions of 30 minutes each (three sessions per week), conducted with the consent of the participants. At the beginning of the activity, due to the low physical readiness of the participants, the duration of the activity was gradually increased, such that the initial duration of exercise was less than 30 minutes, and after two weeks of activity, the subjects exercised for 30 minutes. The pre-test was conducted before the intervention, and the post-test was conducted after the intervention. Participants completed the Falls Efficacy Scale (FES-I) questionnaire at the pre-test stage and again after the intervention in the post-test stage to analyze the data SPSS software version27 and

Results The results of the mixed ANOVA showed that the main effect of the test (F(1, 36) = 54.66, P < 0.001, η2P = 0.60) was statistically significant, and fear of falling decreased from pre-test (M = 23.5) to post-test (M = 19.95) .However, other main and interaction effects were not significant (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of aerobic and walking exercises on the fear of falling in elderly women. The results showed that the fear of falling in elderly women decreased after eight weeks of selected exercise training. The researchers suggest that in order to cope with the fear of falling in the elderly and increase their ability, we recommend less harmful exercises such as walking and aerobics to the elder

Footnotes

Ethical approval: This research has the ethics code  IR.SSRC.REC.1402.242 from the Institute of Physical Education..

Funding: This study did not receive any financial support from any

organization

Authors’ contribution: Study concept and design: M.SH., R. A., R. R., and E. A.; Analysis and interpretation of data: M. SH.; Drafting of the manuscript:  M.SH., and R. A .Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: M.SH., R. A., and E. A.; Statistical analysis: M. SH.

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank all the participants in this study for their contributions.