Document Type : Original Articles

Authors

• Akram Ahmadi Barati ¹
• Saeid Ahmadi Barati ²
• Saeid Ghaeini ³
• Naser Behpour ⁴
• Amir Letafatkar ⁵

¹ School of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Raazi University, Kermanshah, Iran

² Academic Member, School of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Izeh Branch, Ahvaz, Iran

³ Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Education, School of Physical Education, Kordestan University, Sanandaj, Iran

⁴ Assistant Professor, Department of Sport Physiology, School of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Raazi University, Kermanshah, Iran

⁵ Lecturer, Department of Corrective Exercises and Sport Injuries, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of present research was to compare the effect of mental, physical and mental- physical exercises on the balance ability of blind students.Materials and Methods: Subjects of this semi-experimental research were 30 daughters with the maximum Visual acuity of 0.05 Diopter in the dominant eyes, who were selected through a simple non-probability sampling method. They were randomly divided into 3 equal groups of mental exercises (mean age 9.2 years); physical exercises (mean age 8.2 years) and combined exercises (mean age 9.6 years). Each group participated in an 8-week program consisted of 2 weekly sessions of 45 to 60 minutes each. The capability of static and dynamic balance was measured by Romberg and Balance beam tests respectively. Obtained data were statistically analyzed via independent t test, one way ANOVA and Post hoc Tukey test using SPSS software, version 18 (significance level was set at P ≤ 0.05).Results: Results showed that there was no significant difference between the above mentioned three practice methods considering static balance. Regarding to the dynamic balance, combined practice was the only method that resulted in a significantly improved performance. Moreover, between-group comparisons indicated significant advantage of combined method over either mental or physical practice alone. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it is concluded that a compensatory corrective mechanism is the possible cause of non significant differences between the static-balance performances of the three studied groups. Combined mental and physical practices may improve balance ability during execution of complicated movements. Keywords: Mental practices, Physical practices, Mental- physical practices, Balance capability, Blind students