Impact of exercise on quality of life, body awareness, kinesiophobia and the risk of falling among young older adults

Purpose: This study was planned to examine the effects of exercise on quality of life, body awareness, kinesiophobia and falling risk among young older adults. Materials and Methods: The study was performed with 74 participants (aged between 65-74) in Trabzon. Age, gender, body mass index, educational status, family structure, living with people and chronic illness were all included in the sociodemographic data form.They were divided into two groups: one exercised group of 36 people (group I) and non-exercised of 38 subjects (group II). A 12-week exercise program was applied to the study group. The SF-36 Quality of Life Questionnaire was used to evaluate the quality of life, the Body Awareness Questionnaire (BAQ) for comparing awareness conditions, the Tampa Kinesiophobia Scale (TSK-11) for the perception of kinesiophobia, and the Denn Falling Risk Scale (DENN) to determine falling risk level. Results: The mean age of the participants was 69.45 years. There were differences in terms of quality of life in all subscales between two groups. While there was a corelation between quality of life, body awareness and falling fisk in exercise group, there was no corelation in non-exercise group. There was a positive correlation between falling risk and kinesophobia in two groups. There was a negative correlation between falling risk and body awareness in exercise group. Conclusion: The presence of positive effects on the quality of life and body awareness in the older adults will shed light on planning geriatric rehabilitation programs for health professions.