Older adults with osteoporosis may exhibit impaired gait due to structural and biomechanical changes and, in addition to age-related changes, such as reduced muscle mass and strength, balance impairments and reduced motor control and cognitive function, they are more susceptible to falls and fractures. Therefore, interventions focused on gait in this population are important for maintaining functional independence and quality of life.

To organize scientific literature from the last 10 years on exercises designed to improve gait parameters in older adults with osteoporosis.

The Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS/MeSH) used to search for articles were “osteoporosis”, “exercise”, “gait” and “aged” in the Cochrane Library and PubMed databases as well as in the Web of Science database via the CAPES Portal. Articles published in the last 10 years in English that studied the effects of exercise on gait in older adults with osteoporosis were included. After reviewing the titles and abstracts, review articles, meta-analyses, case reports, pilot studies, cross-sectional studies, duplicate articles, restricted access articles and those not directly responding to the objectives of this review were excluded.

After the articles search and application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 4 articles were analyzed for this review. It is important to emphasize that 2 articles provided follow-up data from the other 2 original studies included in this review, presenting the long-term effects of the interventions performed. One of the interventions consisted of balance training associated with resistance training for 12 weeks, with sessions twice a week. The other intervention involved dual-task and multi-task balance training with and without the addition of walking for at least 30 minutes, also for 12 weeks, three sessions per week. It is noteworthy that most of the study sample consisted of elderly women with osteoporosis. Balance training associated with resistance training did not provide significant effects in the gait speed of older women with osteoporosis immediately after the intervention or three months after the intervention when compared with the control group. However, balance training with dual-task and multi-task exercises, with and without the addition of walking, promoted improvements in the preferred walking speed and fast walking speed of elderly individuals in the short term, with the benefits remaining for six months after the intervention.

Balance training is an intervention of interest for studying the improvement of the gait of older adults with osteoporosis, especially when combined with multi-task training involving cognitive and/or motor demands. Further research is suggested to analyze gait as the primary outcome of interventions with different exercise modalities for both elderly men and women with osteoporosis, in order to define more effective short and long-term strategies for this population.

From this review, it is still difficult to determine whether balance training combined with other types of exercise brings benefits to elderly people with osteoporosis. However, balance training with multi-task exercises deserves attention, as it simulates everyday situations, making elderly people more prepared and confident while walking.