Multicomponent aquatic exercises for falls in older people: a randomized clinical trial

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of aquatic multicomponent exercises on the rate of falls and fear of falling in older people. The older people from the community were randomly divided into two groups: Training Group, underwent training with aquatic multicomponent exercises for 16 weeks; and Control Group, did not undergo training. The multicomponent exercise training in water included warm-up, resistance, balance, and trunk and lower limb muscle activation exercises. Clinical and sociodemographic data were collected. The occurrence of falls was verified by monthly phone calls and fear of falling by the Falls Efficacy Scale International-I. No intra-group and inter-group differences were observed in falls and fear of falling after 16 weeks. The Training Group showed a mean adherence to the training sessions of 75.3%. It is concluded that training with multicomponent aquatic physical exercises did not influence the rate of falls and fear of falling in the sample of community-dwelling older individuals. The small sample size, due to the pandemic period, and the need to interrupt training, as well as the low rate of falls reported by the older people at the beginning of the study may have impacted the findings on the effects of exercises on the occurrence of falls and fear of falling in the participants.