The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends tai chi as a key component of community-based fall prevention programs.

In a recent publication, Preventing Falls: How to Develop Community-based Fall Prevention Programs for Older Adults, the CDC recommends tai chi as a key component of a falls prevention program.  According to the CDC the only programs that have been shown to be affective in reducing falls among older adults are single intervention programs involving exercise, such as tai chi, or multiple intervention programs involving exercise together with other interventions such as vision assessment and education.

According to the document appropriate types of exercise which effectively reduce falls among older adults include:

• Tai Chi
• Strengthening exercises combined with balance training
• Balance training alone

The full document is available as a pdf file.

Preventing Falls: How to Develop Community-based Fall Prevention Programs for Older Adults PDF