Introduction: The main aim of the research was to compare the effectiveness of functional exercises and pilates on psychological and movement indicators related to falls in elderly women.
Methods: The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design and a control group. The participants of this research included 45 elderly women in the age range of 65 to 75 years who were selected voluntarily and according to the objectives of the study among the elderly women of Mashhad city and randomly replaced in three groups of 15 people. In order to collect individual information, sports records and the international falling efficiency questionnaire were used. Univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and Bonferroni's post hoc test were performed at a significance level of less than 5 percent using SPSS19 and EXCEL statistical packages.
Results: The results showed that both training groups performed better than the control group and both functional training methods and pilates improved balance and confidence in balance and reduced the fear of falling in elderly women (p≤0.05). Also, in the comparison between the two training methods, the findings showed that in the balance index and fear of falling, functional training method scored higher than Pilates training (p≤0.05). D. No difference was observed in balance trust index between Pilates and functional training methods (p≥0.05).
Conclusion: According to the obtained results, both functional training methods and pilates have almost similarly improved the balance confidence of elderly women.