The effect of the feldenkrais exercise method on the quality of life and physical function in the adults aged from 65 to 85 living in nursing home

Feldenkrais is a psycho-somatic training method which helps individuals complaining about back, neck and joint pain to increase body awareness and to use their body alignment correctly. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Feldenkrais program on the quality of life and physical function of individuals aged from 65 to 85 living in Adana Elderly Care Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center. The volunteers of this study (n=30) were randomly divided into experimental (EG) and control groups (CG). The average values EG were 70.93±7.13 CG71.00±6.95 years for age; EG 167.06±9.45 CG 167.93±6.98 cm for body height, EG 81.60±12.29 CG 75.60±6.83 body weight, respectively. While the experimental group participated in the Feldenkrais training program for 3 days per week, daily 1 hour during 5 months, the control group did no exercise. After collecting the demographic information, pre and post test; Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP), Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP), Resting Heart Rate (RHR), 6 Min. Walk Tests (6MT), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Hand Grip Strength (HGS), SF-12 Quality of Life Scale including Mental Health Scale (MHS) and Physical Health Scale (PHS), Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were used respectively. Data analysis was carried out by using mixed ANOVA. Result of this study showed that the partial Ƞ2 values of the MHS, GDS and SBP variables were low in the elderly after the Feldenkrais exercise program, while the partial Ƞ2 values in the other variables were high in the significant level. In conlusion, Feldenkrais exercise is an effective method to increase the body awareness, to improve the physical fitness level and to enhance the life quality with decreasing the pain level in elderly. Low to moderate level of exercises was highly recommended to the elderly with low physical functions. Keywords: Pain, Exercise, Feldenkrais Method, Quality of Life, Elderly