The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of core muscle training on balance ability. Forty subjects in their 20s participated in a 6 week core muscle training program. Balance ability before and after the intervention were assessed and analyzed using the Romberg test, which was conducted on the floor, pedalo, and balancefit. The differences between the measurement methods of balance ability using varied platforms was also compared and analyzed.
After the 6-week core exercise training program, the training group represented statistically significant increases in all 3 methods for static balance ability. In the control group, all 3 methods represented no statistically significant increases. Upon comparing the different methods of the Romberg test, there were no notable differences between conducting the test on varying platforms for both groups.
This study suggests that the core muscle exercise training program increased the balance ability.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of improvement in the balance control ability of the elderly affected by Hansen's disease. We tried to compare the effects for the elderly affected by Hansen's disease with and without foot deformity. The subjects consisted of 19 patients 65 years old and older. They participated in a balance training program twice per week for 8 weeks. The following results were obtained from the training program: 1. There were significant improvements in static balance ability in one leg standing (OLS), dynamic balance ability in tandem walk (TW) and four square step (FSS) (p<.05). 2. There was a significant difference between patients with and without single-foot deformity in TW before the program (p<.05). After training, however, the difference became less significant. Also, there was not much difference between recipients with and without single-foot deformity in terms of OLS and FSS. The results of this study suggest that we need to provide training programs and rehabilitation services for the elderly affected by Hansen's disease suffering from nerve injury and disability. Furthermore, further research efforts should be made concerning rehabilitation to overcome various forms of disability.