understand instructions. The exclusion criteria were: artificial prosthesis, participation in any physical therapies other than those routinely provided in the nursing home, any symptom that a medical examiner deemed as warranting exclusion, any disease that contraindicated the exercise program or required special care(eg, coronary artery disease, thrombosis, moderate or severe bone, lung or renal diseases), and any disease requiring the daily intake of psychotropic drugs or affecting the vestibular system, in order to avoid any influence on balance measures.