Introduction: Mentally retarded children usually have significant differences in motor skills from their peers. This study aimed to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of physical exercise on some anthropometric and flexibility factors of mentally retarded children.
Methodology: In this quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test and double-blind, 20 mentally retarded children (age: 12.31±4.81 years and 153.91±4.82 cm height and weight of 56 ± 5.12 kg) available were randomly divided in two control and training groups. Training group did the exercise for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week and each session took 60 minutes. The paired t-test to determine and obtain the difference between the pre-test and post-test flexibility and weight were used.
Results: According to the results of pre-test and post-test mean flexibility in legs after completing the training program improved significantly, in which case the significance of the differences and the effect of exercise on the improvement of the above, was confirmed. Also, according to the results of the pre-test and post-test the components of the index weight and fat mass after completion of training were lower than observed before.
Discussion: Overall results showed that physical training on anthropometric parameters and flexibility of mentally retarded children had a positive effect.