Tai Chi can prevent falls
Regular exercise with the ancient Chinese sport of tai chi helps older people reduce their risk of falling - beating alternatives like physical therapy and gymnastics.
A meta-analysis of several studies shows that regular tai chi training can help significantly reduce the number of falls in both older adults and adults at risk of falling. The results were published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese sport that practices flowing movements. The harmonious movements exercise flexibility and whole-body coordination. Various studies have shown that Tai Chi is an efficient training to improve balance and agility in elderly people. From this, it can be deduced that regular Tai Chi traning can help prevent falls. These are responsible for a large proportion of accidental deaths among seniors.
More successful than physiotherapy
Study author Rafael Lomas-Vega of the University of Jaén in Spain and his colleagues searched the medical literature for relevant studies. The team found ten randomized trials that compared the effect of tai chi with that of other treatments on fall risk. These included physiotherapy and gymnastics.
Tai Chi was found to reduce the rate of falls by 43% in the short term compared to other treatment approaches. For falls resulting in injury, the risk reduction was as high as 50%. The participants exercised one to three times a week for one hour each. The length of the interventions ranged from 12 to 26 weeks.
