The effect of balance exercise on postural balance of elderly as fall prevention in institutionalized elderly

The common problem of elderly physical changes is a postural balance which can increase the incidence of fall. Balance exercise is an exercise program to increase the postural balance of elderly. This study aims to analyze the effect of a balance exercise that increases elderly postural balance. This study was a quasi-experimental design. The samples were 28 respondents from Wana Seraya Denpasar Nursing home based on inclusion criteria and divided into treatment group and control group containing 14 respondents in each group. The variable was elderly postural balance with balance exercise as the intervention. The participants were evaluated using the Berg Balance Scale. This study used the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test and Mann Whitney Test. The results showed that there was an increase in the postural balance in the treatment group (p=0.014), but, in the control group, there was no change (p = 1.00). There was a significant effect of balance exercise in increasing elderly postural balance with the value of p=0,001. A positive effect of the balancing exercise in the postural balance in institutionalized elderly subjects was found. This study recommends balance exercise for providing elderly postural balance that helps to decrease fall incidence among the elderly.