Effectiveness of the Exercise Program Using Innovative Wooden Massage with Rubber Resistance Band for senior

Abstract

The Thailand’s Aging population has increased dramatically but the level of physical activity of seniors to maintain healthy body functions tends to decrease with aging. To promote an increase in physical activity for seniors, appropriate and safe exercise equipment are needed. This two group pretest – posttest study  aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a - wooden back massage ball with rubber resistance band Exercise Program the Thai traditional exercise equipment- a mixed between Thai massage and strength training techniques of seniors.

Thirty-five Participants, aged 60-79 years old with no serious health conditions were selected by using matching methods (setting, number of households, age and sex proportion). Of 35 seniors, 17 were randomly assigned to be an intervention group and 18 were a control groups. The intervention group received the four-week exercise program and the control group received an exercise handbook. The program included teaching and training how to do the exercise using the new equipment by using coaching techniques to help participants learn effectively. Data collection used questionnaires to evaluate knowledge and skill of using the equipment and physical fitness test at before and after the delivery of the program .Data analysis used   Wilcoxon signed rank   test , Kruskal  wallis test  to compare between the two groups.

            The results indicated that seniors in intervention group had significantly increased in scores of knowledge and skill about exercise (p-value < 0.05, p-value < 0.01).  The scores of physical fitness test between the two groups were not different. However, the study indicated that seniors in the intervention group seems to be satisfied with the new equipment in the aspects of the experimental group was satisfied with size and convenience of the Wooden Back Massage Ball with Rubber Resistance Band.

          However, this successful result from this study should be extended to apply to the elderly in other areas and the study further should be increased the duration of at least three months for effectiveness and appropriate with the study group.