Study limitations
Our study has certain limitations that need to be acknowledged. First, the absence of a placebo group, where no exercise program was applied, might be considered a potential weakness. However, we believe that ethically, it was not appropriate to deprive older adults of the opportunity to engage in exercise, especially during a pandemic with restrictive conditions that limited their outdoor activities. Second, we were unable to assess the long-term effects of the exercise program, as our study focused on short-term outcomes.Additionally, we recognize another limitation related to the blinding of outcome assessors. We did not implement blinding procedures for the individuals responsible for assessing the outcomes. This non-blinding of outcome assessors could be considered a limitation of our study and should be taken into account when interpreting the results.It should be noted that the participants in this study were recruited from an upper-middle-class metropolitan urban district. While this district provided practical advantages for conducting the research, such as access to resources and facilities, it may limit the generalizability of our findings to populations from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds or rural areas. The demographic characteristics of the study participants could influence the applicability of the results to broader populations. Future research endeavors should strive to include a more diverse participant sample to enhance the external validity and generalizability of the study’s conclusions.Besides, it should be noted that our study predominantly consisted of female participants. While this allowed us to investigate the effects of our intervention within this specific demographic, it may limit the generalizability of our findings to a more diverse population. Furthermore, research on potential sex and gender differences in the effects of Action Observation Therapy (AOT) remains relatively limited in the existing literature. This aspect warrants further exploration in future studies to enhance our understanding of how AOT may impact various demographic groups.