The Effect of a Walking Course with the Focus of External Attention on the Balance, Gait and Verbal Memory of Blinds

Evaluation of the effect of a walking period with the instructions of the external focus on balance, gait and verbal memory of the blind

A two-group clinical trial, including a 9-person control group and an experimental 9-person group, one-way blind, was performed by simple random sampling on 18 blind people.

In the pre-test stage, Wexler static balance, dynamic balance, walking and expansive memory tests were taken. To perform static and dynamic balance test, foot scan device was used to record the pressure center and motion step analysis device was used to take steps.. The Wechsler Width Memory Test was also used to measure participants' short-term memory. Then, 9 people in the experimental group practiced walking for six weeks, three sessions per week and 20 minutes each session along with the instructions of the external focus, and the control group did not follow the purposeful training during this period. All statistical calculations were performed in SPSS software version 21 at a significant level (P = 0.05). measurements were performed at the Health Center of Mazandaran University.

Age 12 to 16 years, hearing impairment, no history of limb failure in the past year, no other Cognitive developmental disorders and lack of information other mental and physical

1.The control group: 9 blind people without intervention during the study. 2.The experimental group: 9 blind people who intervened during the research

There was no significant difference between the mean of the center of pressure (P=0.0629), a distance of the center of pressure (P=0.613), and the range of pressure center in the external internal path (P=0.428) and posterior-anterior path (P=0.063). Whereas this exercise period had a significant effect on the verbal memory of the blind (P=0.035).

First, participants in the study were categorized by gender and age. Each age group (12, 13, 14, 16, 15 years old girls and boys) was given a code in each gender and then the codes were randomly assigned to the control and experimental groups.

Participants in the study were blind people who were kept in daycare centers and entered the study voluntarily by completing the consent form. Subjects were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was told that they would participate in a training session to stay healthy, but they did not know the purpose of the exercises, which was to improve balance performance. However, at the end of the exercises and research, they were given an explanation about the results of the exercises, including changes in balance.