The bottom line about Tai Chi and healthy aging... it works. It's very effective for reducing falls. Many, many studies have shown improved balance, muscle strength, bone health, and maybe brain health. The list of benefits is long.
As mentioned, Tai Chi is known to improve the fitness of the cardiovascular system, muscles, flexibility, and postural control and balance (1). A number of research studies have shown the benefit to balance and falls. For example, in 2007, researchers at University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, reported that a group of patients with impaired balance showed much more improvement in their balance after a 3-week program of Tai Chi than did a group of patients who received only education about falls and balance, some exercises, and stretching (2). Better balance, of course, leads to reduced falls and reduced risk of falling.
Recently, scientists at Laval University, in Quebec, Canada, compared the effects of traditional physiotherapy and Tai Chi for improving health and cognitive measures that are generally related to falls among older and frail adults (3). One hundred fifty-two people with an average age of 80 participated in this study. All of them had been previously diagnosed with balance problems and were at risk of falling; indeed, they had all fallen at least once in the previous six months. One half of the group participated in Tai Chi training, and the other half participated in traditional physiotherapy, consisting of muscle strengthening and walking exercises. They trained twice per week and the study lasted 15 weeks. Of great interest, both groups saw great improvements in all of the balance measures. Except for the measure of self-efficacy. Both groups showed improvement in measures of balance, fear of falling, walking, and mobility.
However, the Tai Chi group also showed improvements in self-efficacy, while the other group did not. Self-efficacy is, generally speaking, a person's sense that they can successfully do something, or accomplish a goal. If you're a good golfer, your self-efficacy about golf is likely pretty high. If you've never golfed before, your self-efficacy about golf is probably low. If you've recently fallen in your home while cooking dinner, your self-efficacy about your balance and your ability to take care of yourself may be low.
The group that completed the training showed an increase in their self-efficacy - they developed a sense of greater ability for themselves. Tai Chi may lead to a greater sense for practitioners that they can engage in mobility activities safely, without falling. A "take-away" from this study is that exercises to increase muscle strength and walking ability lead to improvements in fear of falling, balance confidence, posture and balance, and mobility; and that Tai Chi also leads to improvements in a person's sense that they can successfully ambulate - be mobile - without falling.
A major review of research studies that examined strategies to reduce falls, titled "Interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community", was published in 2012 (4). This report demonstrated that Tai Chi is the only intervention that affects both the number of falls that people will suffer and the risk of falling. People who practice this experience fewer falls (measured as the 'rate ratio') and are at a lower risk of falling (measured as the 'risk ratio', or the 'relative risk').
Regular exercise and activity lead to improvements in balance and reduced risk of falling. It appears that practicing Tai Chi may be better at reducing the risk of falling than other forms of exercise. Of course, this activity is not going to be the exercise of choice for everyone. But if you're interested in getting involved in Tai Chi, check out http://www.taoist.org and click on "find classes" along the top of the site. They list 28 different countries around the world where you can find classes.
- Lin MR, Hwang HF, Wang YW, Chang SH and Wolf SL. (2006) Community-based tai chi and its effect on injurious falls, balance, gait, and fear of falling in older people. Phys.Ther., 86(9), 1189-1201.
- Gatts SK and Woollacott MH. (2007) How Tai Chi improves balance: biomechanics of recovery to a walking slip in impaired seniors. Gait Posture, 25(2), 205-214.
- Tousignant M, Corriveau H, Roy PM, et al. (2012) The effect of supervised Tai Chi intervention compared to a physiotherapy program on fall-related clinical outcomes: a randomized clinical trial. Disabil.Rehabil., 34(3), 196-201.
- Gillespie LD, Robertson MC, Gillespie WJ, et al. (2012) Interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database Syst.Rev., 9CD007146.
Visit http://www.dontfall.ca for more great articles on aging and healthy living. 'Like' us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/idontfall. Don't forget to subscribe to our email list to automatically receive free updates for new articles from Don't Fall.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=William_Gage
0 comments:
Post a Comment