Investigation of the Effects of Basic Body Awareness Therapy on Core Muscle Endurance, Posture, Balance, Quality of Life and Body Awareness in Earthquake Victims

Plain-language summary

Earthquakes are natural disasters that occur unexpectedly, affecting many people negatively, threatening life and causing serious losses. In our geography where earthquakes are frequently experienced, two earthquakes occurred on February 6, 2023 in the Southeastern part of our country, the first with a magnitude of 7.7 and the second with a magnitude of 7.5. The earthquakes that occurred with Pazarcık/Kahramanmaraş as the epicenter are one of the major earthquakes in our country. It is known that a significant portion of individuals exposed to such large earthquakes are affected mentally and physically. However, although psychological effects have been known for many years, the physical changes that occur due to psychological effects are still being investigated today. Many studies on the subject focus on complaints of dizziness and disturbances in balance following an earthquake. However, it is also possible that different physical effects may develop. The aim of our current project proposal is to examine the effects of basic body awareness therapy on core muscle endurance, posture, balance, quality of life and body awareness in earthquake survivors. Within the scope of our project, 30 earthquake survivors between the ages of 18-45 who experienced the February 6, 2023 earthquake will be included in the study. For all individuals, evaluation of core muscles will be performed with McGill Endurance test, Prone Bridge test and Stabilizer Pressure Biofeedback, posture evaluation with New York Posture Assessment Method (NYPAM) and lateral digital imaging in standing posture, balance evaluation with Balance on One Leg test (eyes open and closed), Functional Forward Reach Test and Y Balance Test, quality of life evaluation with Short Form-36 (SF-36) and body awareness evaluation with Body Awareness Questionnaire (BAQ). Individuals will be divided into 2 groups by closed envelope randomization method. The first group was determined as the intervention group and the second group as the control group. While Basic Body Awareness Therapy will be applied to the individuals in the intervention group, no application will be made to the individuals in the control group. All assessments will be applied to individuals in both the intervention group and the control group 2 times in total at the beginning of the study and at the end of 8 weeks. Our project, which is foreseen to be completed in 12 months, is planned to be carried out in 16 sessions, 2 days a week, 1 hour a day, for 8 weeks, and to give home exercise 2 days a week, 1 hour a day. The fact that the evaluations to be applied within the scope of the project proposal and the exercise approach to be used have not been applied on earthquake victims before gives our study originality. It has the potential to form the basis for future studies in the field of health related to earthquake victims.

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