Water- versus land-based treatment for postural control in postmenopausal osteoporotic women: a randomized, controlled trial

<b>Objective:</b> To compare the effects of water-based and land-based physical therapy on postural control of older women with osteoporosis. <b>Methods:</b> Thirty-six postmenopausal women with osteoporosis were allocated into two groups: land-based or water-based. Volunteers received 12 weeks of a supervised land-based or water-based physical therapy treatment. The outcome measure was postural control of the body during quiet standing on upright stance (eyes opened and closed), tandem and one-limb stance on a force plate. A two-way ANOVA with a Tukey HSD <i>post-hoc</i> test were used to highlight differences between pre- and post-intervention evaluations. Effect sizes were measured with Cohen <i>d</i> coefficient. For all variables, a level of 5% of significance was adopted. <b>Results:</b> Significant improvements at tandem (<i>p</i> p <b>Conclusions:</b> Group-based water-based physical therapy treatment may be more effective than land-based therapy to improve postural control at one-limb stance in women with osteoporosis.