The Effect of the Maneevej Exercise Technique on Body Balancing, Flexibility and Strength in Elderly Persons

Abstract

Introduction The elderly who are at high risk of falling and serious injuries, A good exercise
should improve body balancing, flexibility and strength in the elderly persons and prevent falls
and serious injuries, Maneevej exercise technique is applied in this study.
Objectives To study the effects of training the elderly with Maneevej exercise technique on
body balancing, flexibility and strength
Study design Quasi-Experimental design : pre and post one group intervention study
Setting Department of Physical Therapy, Khunhan Hospital
Subjects Thirty community dwelling elderly persons who were healthy and did not practiced
regular exercise for the past 3 months
Methods Participants were taught how to exercise with the Maneevej exercise technique by
demonstrator for 1 day then let them continued exercise at home 4 times/week for six weeks.
The following were measured or tested before and after training : body flexibility, body balancing
, grip strength and knee extensor strength.
Results Sixteen males and fourteen females with mean age 67 years old were involved. All
participants had continued Maneevej exercise technique for 6 weeks, only 22 participants from
30 participants (73%) performed regular exercise at least 4 day per week. The participants
showed improvement significantly on the body balancing function (time up & go test : p=0.000,
functional reach test : p=0.024), body flexibility (back scratch test : p=0.007, chair sit and reach
test : p=0.005) and grip strength (grip strength : p=0.01). But, there were no change in the knee
extensor strength.
Conclusion Six weeks exercise with Maneevej exercise technique can improve body flexibility,
body balancing function and grip strength but not for knee extensor strength in elderly persons.