Effect of Cognitive-motor Exercises on Physical Health and Cognitive Status in Elderly

Background and Objectives: Achieving old age is one of the major advances in human life, but reducing in physical activity, especially balance walking, and cognitive impairment including problems in the elderly are associated with physical, psychological and social consequences. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a training protocol on cognition and physical health status in elderly women living in elderly care centers. Materials & Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 24 elderly women with a healthy cognitive status (mean age, 72.40±6.05 years; weight, 62.66±4.55 kg) in an elderly care center were randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. The intervention group used a 12-weeks course of combined training (cognitive-motor). Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed up and Go test (TUG), Functional Reach Test (FRT) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were taken before and after the intervention. Results: The findings showed an improvement in the results of the FRT test (p=0.002), BBS test (p=0.001), TUG test (p=0.001) and MMSE test (p=0.011) in the intervention group. Conclusion: The results showed that cognitive-motor training program can be effective to improve motor performance especially balance and cognitive factors in elderly women. It seems that this type of activity is a beneficial training method for maintaining motor function and reduction the speed of mental function of the elderly people.