Tai Chi Research » Long term tai chi practitioners

Tai chi compared to swimming – balance and hand-eye coordination

David Bendall — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 15:46:02 +0000

Researchers at Chang Gung University in Taiwan carried out a study aimed at testing if practicing tai chi provides a distinctive benefit on balance in the elderly. Researchers compared 32 individuals who had practiced tai chi for at least 3 years to 20 participants who practiced regular swimming for the past three years and 34 healthy controls. Researchers measured both balance and hand-eye coordination.

Both the tai chi and swimming groups had significantly better hand eye coordination than the control groups, however the tai chi practitioners performed significantly better than both the swimming and control groups in the most challenging balance conditions.

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Tai chi reduces DNA damage

David Bendall — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 21:29:24 +0000

Two studies from researchers at the University of Kebangsaan in Malaysia suggest that practicing tai chi leads to reductions in damage to DNA. The first study which compared 35 adults over the age of 45 who had practiced tai chi at least 7 years to 35 sedentary controls. The individuals who practiced tai chi had higher levels of normal DNA and lower levels of mild and severely damaged DNA compared to the controls.

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In a separate study, researchers at the same University followed a group of tai chi participants and matched sedentary controls over the course of a year. They found that after 12 months the sedentary controls had decreased normal DNA and increased severely damaged DNA compared to the tai chi group.

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According to researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda MD, physical activity has been shown in epidemiological reviews to reduce cancer risk. While the reasons for this reduced risk have not been established, improved DNA repair mechanisms is one of the beneficial effects if increased physical activity that may contribute to the reduced risk.

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Seniors who practice tai chi have improved fitness

David Bendall — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:32:06 +0000

Researchers at the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei compared investigated the fitness level of seniors who practice tai chi to sedentary controls matched by age and body size. 22 male and 19 female tai chi practitioners with an average age of 69 and 12 years of tai chi practice were compared to 18 male and 17 female sedentary subjects. Both the male and female tai chi practitioners had significantly greater fitness measurements then the sedentary controls. The tai chi group had 18-19% greater peak oxygen uptake, greater flexibility and lower body fat compared to the sedentary controls.

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Long term tai chi practitioners show improved finger pointing accuracy.

David Bendall — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:10:54 +0000

Researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University compared the effects of age and tai chi on eye-hand coordination. The study consisted of three groups, a younger control group consisting of 30 university students with an average age of 24, a elderly control group consisting of 30 healthy non-tai chi practicing adults with an average age of 72 and an elderly tai chi group consisting of 31 healthy tai chi practicing adults with an average age of 70 and 7 years of tai chi practice. The study compared reaction time and accuracy in a test in which subjects point towards a dot on a display unit. The younger subjects achieved significantly faster reaction and movement times and better accuracy than the elderly controls in all finger-pointing tasks. The elderly tai chi group had significantly better accuracy than the elderly controls in pointing towards both stationary and moving targets. The accuracy in the tai chi group was similar to the accuracy in the younger control group.

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Tai chi associated with improved eye-hand coordination in the elderly.

David Bendall — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:33:52 +0000

Researchers at Ghang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan studied the effect of tai chi on eye-hand coordination in the elderly. 22 elderly individuals who had practiced tai chi regularly for at least 3 years were compared to a control group of 20 healthy and active elderly individuals who did not practice tai chi. The tai chi group had significantly better test scores on the eye-hand coordination tests than the control group.

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Harvard Study on Tai Chi at Brookline Tai Chi

Richard — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 23:24:50 +0000

“A new study reveals that the Chinese art of Tai Chi may enhance your sense of touch and increase the size of your brain. Catherine Kerr and her team of researchers at the Harvard Medical School are finding that the elderly benefit the most, Kerr says.”

This study was conducted at Brookline Tai Chi which teaches Bruce Frantzis’s Energy Arts system of Wu Style Tai Chi.

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