The Effect of Stationary Walking on the Quality of Life of the ElderlyWomen: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: Aging has a profound effect on all the body organsand quality of life. One of the appropriate interventions is exercisessuch as walking. Nevertheless, the risk of falling and its complicationsare lower in stationary walking than walking on ground. Due to thehigher life expectancy in women than men, the increasing number ofelderly, and the low quality of life of women compared to men, thisstudy aimed to assess the impact of stationary walking on the quality oflife of the elderly women. Methods: In this clinical trial, 66 householdelderly women covered by health centers of Maragheh were randomlyselected and divided into experimental and control groups. Six weeksexercise intervention was conducted. The participants completed thequality of life questionnaire of the elderly, before and after theintervention. SPSS software was used to analyze the data. Results: Meanscores of quality of life, in various aspects of the experimental group,before and after intervention, showed significant difference; there wasno statistically significant difference in the control group. Inaddition, there was a significant difference in the mean and standarddeviation of different aspects of quality of life in pre- and post-testof experiment and control groups. Conclusion: Using regular and constantexercise program such as stationary walking can increase the quality oflife of the elderly women. It can improve healthy aging and having ahealthy life at this age, too. Therefore, it is recommended to havestationary walking program in daily lives of the elderly.