Mohsen Mohammadi, Murat Kaldırımc, Seyed Ebrahim Kazemi, Orcan Mızrak and Cemil Tuğrulhanşam
The study of the effect of Pilates exercise on gait speed and strength of lower limb in elderly male was the main purpose the present study. The 30 elderly male participated in this study had an average age of 63 / 7 ± 4/3 years, height of 158 / 2 ± 3/6 cm and weight 65 / 2 ± 6/1 kg. They were randomly divided into experimental (15 cases) and control (15 cases) groups. The experimental group participated in Pilates exercise program for ten weeks, three sessions per week and one hour per session. Evaluation of lower limb strength was performed by 30-second chair stand test and speed of gait was studied by 10-meter walk test. The Independent T-test and paired sample T-test was used to compare the differences between the pre and post-test in both groups. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS statistical software version 19. Significant difference found between experimental and control groups in both variable (P < 0/05) and between pre and post-test of subjects, there was significant difference in experimental group in both variable (P < 0/05).According to the results of the present research, it could be concluded that for improvement of strength of lower limb and gait speed in elder male, Pilates exercise method is recommended.
