Abstract:

Purpose: This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between postural control and hand function in the elderly. Methods: One hundred-five elderly individuals that are 65 years old or over and living in a nursing home were included in the study. Postural control status (Berg Balance Scale) and hand function (manual dexterity: Nine Hole Peg Test, hand grip strength: handheld dynamometer, pinch grip strength: pinchmeter) of elderly individuals were evaluated. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 76.59±6.92 years, and there were 25 females (23.8%) and 80 males (76.2%). There was a statistically significant correlation between postural control and manual dexterity (dominant hand: r=0.857, p=0.001 and non-dominant hand: r=0.794, p=0.001). A statistically significant correlation between postural control and hand grip strength (dominant hand: r=0.430, p=0.001 and non-dominant hand: r=0.423, p=0.001), and a statistically significant relationship was found between postural control and pinch grip strength (dominant hand: r=0.390, p=0.001 and non-dominant hand: r=0.305, p=0.002). Conclusion: Our study showed that there was a significant relationship between postural control and hand function. This suggests that postural control-enhancing exercise programs might be useful. Therefore, we thought that further study is needed to investigate the effects of postural control to protect and improve the hand function for the elderly enhancing exercise programs for the elderly on the hand function to clarify the issue.

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