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 Researchers examined data from 18 previously published trials of tai
chi for fall prevention with a combined 3,824 participants aged 65
and older.
Tai chi was associated with a 20 percent lower risk of falling at
least once and a 31 percent drop in the number of falls, the
analysis found.
"This is a fairly significant finding because tai chi is an activity
that can be easily taught and that people can do independently at
home or at their workplace or at the retirement center on their own
or in a group," said Jean-Michel Brismee, a physical therapy
researcher at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and
University Medical Center in Lubbock.
"So in regard to cost and preserving independence and health it is
significant because people do not have to go to the gym or a special
facility as they can do it anywhere," Brismee, who wasn't involved
in the study, added by email.
Worldwide, up to 40 percent of people over 65 and about half of
people over 80 fall each year, researchers note in BMJ Open. Falls
are often associated with considerable decline in mobility,
independence and quality of life and are a leading cause of death in
older adults.
For the study, Zhi-Guan Huang of Guangzhou Sport University in China
and colleagues analyzed data from published trials that randomly
assigned older adults to either receive tai chi lessons or join a
control group that didn't get this intervention.
Overall, 10 seniors would need to practice tai chi in order to avoid
one fall, Huang and colleagues estimated.
When researchers accounted for how often seniors practiced tai chi,
how much time they spent at it, the style of tai chi and the falling
risk for individual patients, they still found these exercises
associated with a lower risk of falling. Sometimes the fall risk
appeared smaller but the difference between the tai chi groups and
control groups was too small to rule out the possibility that it was
due to chance, however.
Increasing the frequency of tai chi sessions from once a week to
more than three times weekly was associated with a dramatic
improvement in risk reduction, from 5 percent to 64 percent.
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One limitation of the study is that it examined data from trials
where participants knew what intervention was being tested and
whether they received it, which has the potential to bias results,
the authors note.
Even so, the results confirm previous research showing tai chi can
improve balance, flexibility, strength of knee extension and reduce
the risk of falls in older adults, said Dr. Chenchen Wang, director
of the Center for Complimentary and Integrative Medicine at Tufts
Medical Center in Boston.
"Many important components include: exercise, breathing techniques,
awareness of the body, focused attention, mindfulness, balance and
function, visualization and relaxation," Wang, who wasn't involved
in the study, said by email.
"These components also positively impact health by improving
self-efficacy, psychosocial functioning, and depression and can help
patients bolster self-confidence, which also helps balance and
coordination to avoid falls," Wang added.
The complex nature of tai chi exercise sequences can also support
cognitive function because it requires steady effort to coordinate
multiple movements at the same time, said Dr. Rome Lauche of the
University of Technology in Sydney and the Australian Research
Center in Complementary and Integrative Medicine.
"For frail elderly patients who can't go to the gym and conduct
conventional exercises, or those with a preference towards relaxing
mind/body interventions, the slow and flowing nature of tai chi
might be the right choice," Lauche, who wasn't involved in the
study, said by email. "For patients who have already fallen, it is
important to undergo a medical examination first."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2lffyQy BMJ Open, online February 6, 2017.
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