Background and purpose: Aging is a gradual and irreversible pathophysiological process that causes a decline in neuromuscular function, including decreased postural control in the elderly. The aim of the present research was to determine the effect of a virtual reality-based intervention on postural sway indices in elderly women.
method: In this semi-experimental research, 36 women aged 60-75 were selected using a simple random sampling and randomly divided into three groups: traditional exercises, virtual reality exercises, and control. The interventions were conducted for six weeks and three sessions per week. Postural control was measured by Biodex. one-way analysis of variance statistical test was used to check the effect of interventions on the results.
Findings: The results showed that there was a significant decrease in posture sway in anterior-posterior and central-lateral and general directions in both intervention groups compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Also, sway in anterior-posterior and central-lateral directions and total sways were higher in the virtual reality group than in the traditional training group (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this research, although both traditional exercises and virtual reality interventions are effective in controlling the posture of elderly women, the use of virtual reality was more useful for controlling the posture of elderly women.