T'ai chi and postural control in the well elderly.

TitleT'ai chi and postural control in the well elderly.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1992
AuthorsTse, SK, Bailey, DM
JournalAm J Occup Ther
Volume46
Issue4
Pagination295-300
Date Published1992 Apr
ISSN0272-9490
KeywordsAged, Aged, 80 and over, Evaluation Studies as Topic, Exercise Therapy, Female, Health Promotion, Humans, Male, Medicine, Chinese Traditional, Proprioception
Abstract

In this study, we investigated the potential value of t'ai chi in promoting postural control of the well elderly. T'ai chi, a traditional Chinese exercise, is a series of individual dancelike movements linked together in a continuous, smooth-flowing sequence. Performance on five balance tests of 9 t'ai chi practitioners was compared to that of 9 nonpractitioners. An analysis of variance demonstrated that in three of the tests, the t'ai chi practitioners had significantly better postural control than the sedentary nonpractitioners (p less than .05). It was also found that men performed significantly better than women in both the practitioner and non-practitioner groups on the same three tests (p less than .01).

Alternate JournalAm J Occup Ther
PubMed ID1566796