Comparison of the Effect of Core Stability Exercises and Otago Exercises on Quality of Life in Patients with Stroke

Aims: Stroke has unforeseen and destructive effects on patients’ lives and reduces the quality of life of these patients leading to a decrease in quality of life, stress, and anxiety in these patients and disrupting their daily and daily activities. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effect of core stability training using Otago exercises on quality of life in patients with stroke. Materials Methods: The present clinical trial was conducted on all stroke patients referring to the educational and medical centers of Yasuj University of Medical Sciences in 2020. A total of 69 patients were selected by the convenience sampling method. The samples were randomly assigned to three groups: core stability exercises group (first intervention group, 23 people), Otago exercises group (second intervention group, 23 people), and control group (23 people). For patients in the first intervention group, core stability exercises were performed for 8 weeks and 3 sessions per week, and for patients in the second intervention group, Otago exercises were performed for 8 weeks and 3 sessions per week. No training was given to the control group. Demographic characteristics checklist and stroke Specific- Quality of Life (SS-QOL) were used to collect data before the intervention and one month after the intervention. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21 and descriptive statistics and Paired T-test, One-way Analysis of Variance, Bonferroni Post Hoc test. Findings: Before the intervention, there was no statistically significant difference in the overall score of quality of life in the experimental and control groups (p 0.001). At the end of the intervention, there was a statistically significant difference in the mean score of quality of life between the two groups of core stability and Otago exercises compared with the control group (p 0.001). After the intervention, the mean total scores of quality of life in the Otago group increased by about 11.86 points compared with the group core stability, and this difference was significant (p 0.001). Conclusion: Both core stability and Otago exercises improved patients’ quality of life with stroke, but Otago exercise was more effective than core stability exercises.