The Development of Applied Exercise Activities Based on Local Wisdom to Enhance the Physical Fitness of the Elderly in Hua Phai Subdistrict, Mueang Singburi District, Singburi Province

Abstract

     The research aims to 1) design applied exercise activities based on local wisdom to help improve the physical fitness of the elderly and 2) to study the improvement of the elderly’s physical fitness in Hua Phai Subdistrict, Muang SingBuri District, SingBuri Province. The samples were 30 elderly aged between 60-69 years old who volunteered to join the study. They were divided into two groups. The Control group needed to do a basic exercise regularly, but the experimental group did the applied exercises based on local wisdom. The experiment group used a local loincloth to do a stretching activity as their first step of exercising. In the second step, they did an aerobic exercise with folk songs for 30-45 minutes per time and three times a week for six weeks. Both groups of participants were required to note down their results of five aspects of the physical fitness test for the elderly for example, weight, height, and body mass index measurement. They needed to do a back scratch test, a chair stand test for 30 seconds, an agility course test, and a 2-minute step-up and down test. Data were analyzed using mean, Independent Sample T-test, and standard deviation to compare the test data before and after the experiment. The reliability of the research instruments was assessed by the experts with the Index of Item Objective Congruence (IOC =1).  The results showed that: 1) the community had a muscle stretching exercise activity using a local loincloth and also an aerobic exercise activity using folk songs; and 2) after 6 weeks of exercising, the experimental group’s average score on the agility course test was 12.13 (1.30)seconds. There was a statistically significant difference of .05 when compared to the control group which had an average score on the test of 19.20 (3.42) seconds. This indicates that the applied exercise has an effect on improving the elder’s agility. However, the data from other tests showed no statistical differences.