한센 노인의 균형운동프로그램이 균형능력에 미치는 영향

Effects of Balance Training Program for the Elderly Affected by Hansen’s Disease

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of improvement in the balance control ability of the elderly affected by Hansed's disease. We tried to compare the effects for the elderly affected by Hansen's disease with and without foot deformity. The subjects consisted of 19 patients 65 years old and older. They participated in a balance training program twice per week for 8 weeks. The following results were obtained from the training program : 1. There were significant improvements in static balance ability in one leg standing (OLS), dynamic balance ability in tandem walk (TW) and four square step (FSS)(p<.05). After traning, however, the difference became less significant. Also, there was not much difference between recipients with and without single-foot deformity in terms of OLS and FSS. The results of this study suggest that we need to provide training programs and rehabilitation services for the elderly affected by Hansed's disease suffering from nerve injury and disability. Furthermore, further research efforts should be made concerning rehabilitation to overcome various forms of disability.