THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICAL FITNESS FOR ELDERLY APPLYING 14 POSES OF MANORA DANCE TRAINING PROGRAM ON 9-SQUARE-TABLE

Abstract

This research aimed to study and compare the differences in physical fitness among the elderly before and after participating in a 14-posture adapted Menorah dance exercise program performed on a nine-square grid. It also aimed to compare the physical fitness between the experimental and control groups before and after the training. The sample consisted of 60 older women aged between 60 and 69 years from the Elderly Club in Sam Tambon Subdistrict, Chulabhorn District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. They were selected using purposive sampling and voluntarily participated in the study in 2024. All participants had undergone health screenings for chronic conditions such as heart disease, neurological disorders, diabetes, hypertension, and bone density issues. Inclusion criteria required participants to have a normal body mass index (BMI) and pass a physical fitness assessment. The participants were divided into 30 individuals in the experimental group and 30 in the control group. All participants provided informed consent to join the study. The control group (Group 1) maintained their usual daily activities for eight weeks, while the experimental group (Group 2) participated in the adapted 14-posture Manorah dance program on the nine-square grid for eight weeks. Data were analyzed using mean (), standard deviation (S.D.), and dependent t-tests at the 0.05 level of statistical significance. The results revealed that the physical fitness of the elderly in the experimental group after the training program was significantly higher than before the program at the 0.01 significance level. Furthermore, the post-training physical fitness of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group at the 0.01 level of significance.