Tai Chi Research » Review of Clinical Trials http://www.taichiresearch.com The Source for Tai Chi Research, Tai Chi Articles and Tai Chi Videos Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:06:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Review of controlled trials show tai chi to be effective at reducing risk of falls among seniors. http://www.taichiresearch.com/825/review-of-controlled-trials-show-tai-chi-to-be-effective-at-reducing-risk-of-falls-among-seniors/ http://www.taichiresearch.com/825/review-of-controlled-trials-show-tai-chi-to-be-effective-at-reducing-risk-of-falls-among-seniors/#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:22:39 +0000 David Bendall http://www.taichiresearch.com/?p=825 Tai Chi- Arizona-4

A systematic review of randomizes trials of interventions to reduce falls in community-dwelling seniors published in the April 2009 Cochrane Database Syst Rev. found that tai chi is effective at reducing the rate of falls. In addition to tai chi, multiple-component group exercise, individually prescribed multiple-component home-based exercise, and assessment and multifactorial intervention were also found to be effective. Of these tai chi had the greatest estimated reduction in falls. A number of other interventions were also found to be effective, however these only applied to selected situations or populations such as anti-slip shoes in icy conditions and first eye cataract surgery.

Abstract

Risk of falls comparison of interventions

]]> http://www.taichiresearch.com/825/review-of-controlled-trials-show-tai-chi-to-be-effective-at-reducing-risk-of-falls-among-seniors/feed/ 0 A Critical Review of the Effectiveness of Tai Chi for Parkinson’s http://www.taichiresearch.com/698/a-critical-review-of-the-effectiveness-of-tai-chi-for-parkinson%e2%80%99s/ http://www.taichiresearch.com/698/a-critical-review-of-the-effectiveness-of-tai-chi-for-parkinson%e2%80%99s/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:24:22 +0000 David Bendall http://www.taichiresearch.com/?p=698 A literature search of studies of tai chi for Parkinson’s found a total of seven studies that met the researchers inclusion criteria through the end of January 2008. One randomized clinical trial (RCT) found tai chi to be superior to conventional exercise in terms of the UPDRS (the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale) and prevention of falls. Another RCT study failed to find a difference between tai chi and qigong on locomoter ability. A third study failed to show effects of tai chi on the UPDRS or a PD questionnaire compared to a wait list control. The remaining for studies were either non-randomized or non-controlled. The researchers noted that most investigations suffer from methodological flaws such as inadequate study design, poor reporting of results, small sample size and publication without the appropriate peer review process. The researchers conclude that further research is required demonstrate whether there are specific benefits of tai chi for people with Parkinson’s disease such as reducing the frequency of falls and improving balance.

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