長期練習瑜珈的中年女性其平衡能力之探討

Investigation of Balance Ability of Middle-aged Females with Long-Term Yoga Practice

本研究旨在探討長期瑜珈訓練的中年女性，其平衡感與同年齡層無規律運動習慣女性的差別。研究對象以12名年齡為40到60歲其從事哈達瑜珈運動五年以上；控制組則為12名同年齡層，但平常無固定運動習慣。以Biodex Balance System SD平衡評估儀，測試張眼、閉眼情境下，雙腳站和單腳站在靜、動態的姿勢穩定度。結果發現，長期練習瑜珈組，其雙腳站在開眼等級12的整體穩定指數、內外穩定指數、閉眼等級12的整體穩定指數、前後穩定指數、及閉眼等級10的整體穩定指數；慣用腳單腳站在閉眼靜態的整體穩定指數、內外穩定指數、閉眼等級12的整體穩定指數、前後穩定指數、及開眼等級10的整體穩定指數，比起無規律運動控制組，擁有較好的姿勢穩定度。故推測長期練習瑜珈者有較好的姿勢控制能力，若持續練習瑜珈到老年，應可減少跌倒風險。

This study aimed to compare balance ability of middle-aged females with and without long-term yoga practice. The yoga group contained 12 females with more than 5 years of yoga experience. Subjects in the control group are around the same age of the yoga group but have no regular exer-cise habits. We measured the sway index with Biodex Balance System SD under different condi-tions including bilateral， dominant， and non-dominant single leg stance with eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. The participants tried to maintain postural stability on either a static or dy-namic surface.The bilateral stance results showed that there were significant differences in OSI、MLSI score between yoga and control groups at Level 12 in the eyes-open condition， and the OSI、APSI scores at level 12 & the OSI score at level 10 in the eyes-closed condition. The dominant-leg stance results showed that there were significant differences in OSI、MLSI scores between the yoga and control groups at static， OSI、APSI scores at level 12 in the eyes-closed condition， and OSI score at level 10 in the eye-open condition. It was concluded that long-term Yoga practice can result in better postural stability. The results of reducing risks in falls may also be applied to older seniors with regular yoga practice.