Effects of Eight Weeks of Pilates Exercise on General Health Condition of Aged Male Adults

چکیده مقاله

Aging is an era when the many functions of body deteriorate. Pilates is one of the safe physical activities that are used to improve the physical and mental conditions. The aim of the present research was to examine the effects of 8 weeks of Pilates exercise on the general health condition sedentary male senior citizen. This was a semi-experimental research in which 30 senior citizen men were randomly selected from the accessible population of participants who referred to the health and treatment center of Mashhad Ardehal of Kashan. The participants were divided by block procedure according to their age, weight and height into the treatment and control group. The inclusion criterion included age of over 60, having no history of acute cardiopulmonary disease, head trauma, Parkinson's syndrome and musculoskeletal limitation. The exclusion criterion was the consumption of energy enhancing substances and tranquilizing medicine, affliction to infectious disease. The mental health of the participants was assessed by employing General Health Questioner (GHQ). Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS: PC version 16.0. The result of analysis indicated that 8 weeks of Pilates exercise significantly improved the general health condition of the senior citizen male participants (P=0.0001). It was concluded that regular Pilates exercise is safe and beneficiary to the general health condition of senior citizen sedentary males. Therefore, this type of activities is a cost-effective none-invasive intervention that can be employed to enhance the mental health condition of aged population.