ABSTRACT
As people grow old, the human body undergoes for a long period of changes that cause a decline in some physical abilities, such as balance. This study aimed to compare the corporal balance of adult people who practice hydrogymnastics and sedentary elderly people in different support basis, with visual manipulation. It assessed 20 elderly people who practice hydrogymnastics and 15 sedentary adults. The balance was collected through a force platform AMTI. The support basis studied were feet together, feet in the width of the hip and right foot with anterior spacing. The time of data collection was 10 seconds for each attempt, in a 100 Hz frequency . For data comparison it used the t test with 5% of significance level . When comparing the hydrogymnastics and sedentary groups, there was no statistically meaningful difference in the variables in the three positions of support basis, with and without visual information, except for the variable amplitude of displacement of the pressure center in the medium-lateral direction, with feet together and open eyes. When the visual information was manipulated, individuals from both groups presented statistically meaningful difference for most variables, thus, calling attention for the importance of visual information for elderly people, even if they are physically active. It is possible to infer, through these results, that hydrogymnastics is recommended for elderly people, since they were not different from the younger individuals in relation to the corporal balance. However, hydrogymnastics did not seem to favor improvements in the use of the visual system.
aging; human body; physical fitness; musculoskeletal equilibrium; aged; motor activity; vision; comparative study
