The effect of lower extremity pilates practices on balance and flexibility in nursing home elderly in the scope of therapeutic recreation

Pilates is one of the practices that will increase balance and flexibility in the elderly within the scope of therapeutic recreation. From this point of view, our study aimed to examine the effect of 12-week lower extremity pilates mat exercises on balance and flexibility in nursing home elderly. 50 volunteer elderly people staying in Elazig Gazi Nursing Home Elderly Care and Rehabilitation Center participated in the research. It consisted of 25 experimental and 25 control groups. Lower extremity pilates mat exercises were applied to the experimental group for 12 weeks, 3 days a week, 30 minutes a day. No exercise program was applied to the control group. Demographic information form, Mini Mental Test, Sit-Reach Test and Berg Balance Scale were applied to both groups before starting the exercise program. Sit-Reach Test and Berg Balance scale were applied again after the exercise program. The obtained data were statistically analyzed with the SPSS-25 package program. Since it had a normal distribution, "Paired Sample t-Test" and "One-Way ANOVA" tests were used in the analysis of the study. Statistical significance was accepted as p < 0.05. In conclusion; In the study, there was no statistically significant difference between the balance and flexibility pretest and posttest averages of the control group, while there was a statistically significant difference between the balance and flexibility pretest and posttest averages of the experimental group (p< 0.05). and increased flexibility. For this reason, in order to increase balance and flexibility, it is recommended to do pilates exercises within the programs prepared for the elderly who are willing and able to live in a nursing home.