Effects of aquatic and step aerobic exercises on flexibility parameters in sedentary women

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of aquatic and step aerobic exercises on flexibility parameters in sedentary individuals. A total of n=45 sedentary women between the ages of 25-50 years, n=15 for aquatic exercise, n=15 for step aerobic exercise and n=15 for control group, who came to municipal sports centres, participated in this study. All measurements were taken before and after 8 weeks of aquatic and step aerobic exercises. In our study, after measuring body weight, body mass index, fat percentage, lean body mass, chest circumference, waist circumference, hip circumference, thigh circumference, sit-lie flexibility, hand flexibility at waist, hand flexibility at neck, planter flex right, planter flex left, dorsi flex right, dorsi flex left were measured respectively. For statistical analyses, paired t-test was used for dependent group comparisons for continuous variables and Wilcoxon test was used for non-normally distributed data. In comparisons of numerical variables between more than two independent groups, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for normally distributed data and Kruskal-Wallis test for non-normally distributed data. After ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test, Tukey or Mann Whitney U post-hoc multiple comparison tests with Bonferroni correction were used to determine the groups in which the difference originated. When the in-group comparisons of aquatic exercise were evaluated, the pre-test and post-test values of sit-lie flexibility, flexibility at hand waist, flexibility at hand neck, planter flexion right, planter flexion left, dorsi flex right, dorsi flex left variables were statistically significantly different (P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, respectively). In step aerobic exercise, the pre-test and post-test values of sit-lie flexibility, flexibility at hand waist, flexibility at hand neck, planter flexion right, planter flexion left, dorsi flex right, dorsi flex left variables were statistically significantly different (respectively; P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001, P< 0.001).