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MONDAY, Sept. 10, 2018 (HealthDay News) – The ancient practice of tai chi can beat strength training and aerobics to prevent falls among older people, according to a new trial.
A modified center-tai chi program on seniors has reduced falls by nearly a third in a direct comparison with an exercise program combining aerobics, muscle training, and balance exercises. .
"This tai chi program has responded better to the deficits that have contributed to the risk of falling," said lead researcher Kerri Winters-Stone, professor at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Health and Science. Oregon.
Tai Chi is a centuries-old Chinese tradition that involves a series of gracious movements. People performing tai chi move between different postures in a slow and focused manner, keeping their bodies in constant motion and frequently defying their balance.
Researchers have long suspected that tai chi can help reduce the risk of falling, said co-investigator Peter Harmer, a professor of exercise and health sciences at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. .
Approximately 28% of seniors in the United States report falling each year, and 2 out of 5 report injuries that result in an emergency visit, hospitalization or death, the researchers said in separate notes. ;information.
"The fall among adults aged 65 and over is significantly associated with the loss of independence, premature mortality and the high costs of health care," said Harmer.
Tai Chi moves require people to move in all directions, while traditional exercise programs focus more on forward and backward motion, Winters-Stone and Harmer said.
"The reality of the fall tends to be quite varied and a little unpredictable.In Tai Chi, the movements are in these multiple planes," said Winters-Stone. "You move your body out of your center of gravity and then you bring it in. There are many postural responses.
"If you accidentally started falling, if you had been trained in tai chi, you would probably do better to start counteracting this movement and regain your balance," continued Winters-Stone.
But classic tai chi can involve more than 100 different movements, which can be difficult for older people to learn, said Harmer.
Thus, the research team for this clinical trial has developed a simplified form of tai chi that focuses on eight fundamental movements most related to falls prevention, said Harmer. The brand program is called Tai Ji Quan: Moving for Better Balance.
To see how well the program works, the researchers tested it against both a traditional exercise program and a control group that only performed stretching exercises.
The researchers recruited 670 Oregonians aged an average of nearly 78 years and assigned them to one of three programs. "It was a higher-risk group that we worked previously," according to their age and fall risk screening, Harmer said.
After six months, the tai chi group was less likely than the stretching group to fall by 58%, and the traditional exercise group was 40% less likely to fall than the people who s & # 39; Only stretched.
Compared to others, the Tai Chi program outperformed traditional exercises. People taking tai chi suffered 31% fewer falls than those who took weight training and aerobics classes.
"Do not fall is a fairly complex physiological behavior," said Harmer, noting that you combine muscle strength with the return of muscles and joints, sight and even hearing to regain your balance. "Tai Chi directly challenges the integration of all these things."
Although tai chi has worked better, people on a traditional exercise program still get a profit, said Nathan LeBrasseur, a researcher in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
"I would not discourage people who are actively involved in a strength exercise and aerobics program to throw in the towel and say," Now I have to do Tai Chi, "said LeBrasseur, who did not participate in the study. "The real challenge is getting people to adopt and follow a program of exercises."
Harmer said that tai chi not only improves balance, but also improves confidence.
"We have found that a major risk factor for people who fall is the fear of falling," said Harmer. "People may have had a fall, so they are afraid to fall back, so they start doing less physical things so they do not fall in. That kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."
The modified tai chi program requires people to step out of their comfort zone, breaking the negative cycle, said Harmer.
LeBrasseur agreed that, whatever the exercise, seniors should be asked more if they want to protect their health.
"I think we tend to oppose multiple interventions in terms of challenge and to push older adults to think that this will lead to harm and injury, which will probably result in beneficial adaptations," said LeBrasseur.
The new study was published on September 10 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
More information
The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health talks more about tai chi.
SOURCES: Kerri Winters-Stone, Ph.D., Professor, Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing, Portland; Peter Harmer, Ph.D., M.P.H., Professor, Exercise and Health Sciences, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon .; Nathan LeBrasseur, Ph.D., researcher in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn .; September 10, 2018, JAMA Internal Medicine
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