Int J Sport Stud Hlth. 2020 October; 3(2):e114813. Published online 2021 May 8. doi: 10.5812/intjssh.114813. Research Article The Effect of Water Therapy and Jogging Exercises on the Health-Related Factors of Physical Fitness of Elderly Women Morteza Taheri 1, * , Shakiba Farzian 2 , Atefeh Esmaeili 1 and Ebrahim Shabani 3 1 Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran 2 Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran 3 Zanjan University, Zanjan, Iran * Corresponding author: Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran. Email: taheri_morteza@yahoo.com Received 2021 April 19; Accepted 2021 April 29. Abstract Objectives: The aim of this research was to study the effects of a course of water therapy and jogging on factors related to the physical fitness of elderly women. Methods: Semi experimental study was performed by pretest-posttest design in which elderly women over 60 (64.3 ± 2.5 years old) were randomly divided into 3 groups of water therapy exercises, jogging group (JG) and control group (CG). Factors related to physi- cal fitness (lower limb muscle strength test, static balance, dynamic balance and physical flexibility) before and after interventional exercises. One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test were applied to analyze the data. Results: It was shown that both water therapy exercises and jogging had a significant effect on static (P = 0.03), dynamic (P = 0.04), lower limb strength [P = 0.03 and (P = 0.01) for WTE and JG, respectively] and physical flexibility scores (P = 0.03), but there was no significant difference between the two experimental groups in all research variables (P ≥ 0.05). Conclusions: The use of water therapy and jogging exercises leads to improved static and dynamic balance, muscular strength of the lower extremities. Since improving the motor performance variables has a significant effect on preventing the falling of the elderly, it is recommended to use these exercises for the elderly. Keywords: Water Therapy, Jogging, Flexibility, Muscle Strength, Dynamic Balance, Static Balance 1. Background Elderly is a stage in which the physiological and me- chanical performance of the body diminishes and the car- diovascular function gradually decreases (1-3). Research has shown that early aging is accelerated by immobility (4, 5). Therefore, one of the most important ways to increase adaptability in the elderly is to improve mobility. Aging is a period that is associated with erosive and degenerative changes in many physical and physiological systems in the human body (1, 6, 7). Falling is one of the most worrying is- sues that often occurs in the elderly (8, 9). Approximately 30% of people over 65 years of age drop at least once and 15% yearly twice or more (10). Therefore, in order to pre- vent falling, it is necessary to activate anti-gravity muscles by creating special conditions and stimulate the body bal- ance (11). Based on the evidence, improving muscle mass and strength, balance, and increasing physical flexibility can help improve elderly motor function and avoid falling (6, 12). It has been revealed that elderly people can adapt to physical activity and develop or improve their work capac- ity, and in some cases, they can be compared with that of young people. Elderly people are not able to perform any kind of activity due to some physiological, physical and motor restrictions (13, 14). Therefore, the necessity of plan- ning the appropriate training program becomes more pro- nounced due to their physical condition. Simonsick et al. (2005) stated that the strength of the sagittal thigh mus- cles plays a major role in maintaining balance and stability in older adults. Therefore, reduction in muscle mass and weakness in the sensory motor system reduce the balance and stability while walking. Therefore, the use of appro- priate therapeutic methods is necessary to improve bal- ance and postural control to prevent the risk of falling (5). Recently, the effectiveness of relaxation exercises, includ- ing water therapy and walking, has been considered by re- searchers in the elderly. These exercises are a combination of physical mental exercises focused on controlling move- ments, positioning and breathing. These training meth- ods emphasize factors such as flexibility, power and bal- ance (15). The logic of using relaxation exercises such as wa- ter therapy and jagging and comparing them in this study Copyright © 2021, International Journal of Sport Studies for Health. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.