Science Library

When Tai Chi was compared with controls, significantly better general quality of life (QOL), mental health QOL and physical health QOL; with less depression and psychological distress were found in older adults with Cardiovascular Disease.

The valid duration of Tai Chi practice for osteoarthritis may be more than 5 weeks. And there were some beneficial evidences regarding the effects of Tai Chi on immediate relief of chronic pain from low back pain and osteoporosis. Therefore, clinicians may consider Tai Chi as a viable complementary and alternative medicine for chronic pain conditions.

In at-risk adults and older adults, tai chi practice may reduce the rate of falls and injury-related falls over the short term (<12 months) by approximately 43% and 50%, respectively. Tai chi practice may not influence time to first fall in these populations. Due to the low quality of evidence, more studies investigating the effects of tai chi on injurious falls and time to first fall are required.

The results of this pilot evaluation suggest that Tai Chi is an appropriate physical activity for older adults with Parkinson's disease (PD) and might also be useful as a therapeutic exercise modality for improving and maintaining physical function.

The current review demonstrated that Meditative Movement Interventions (MMI) (e.g., t'ai chi, yoga, and qigong) had a moderate effect on improving the quality of sleep for older people with sleep complaints. However, the evidence is inconclusive because of the varying study quality and MMI modalities. This study highlights the need for higher-quality randomized, controlled trials and more sufficient fidelity of intervention implementation to confirm the results. It also highlights the need for comparing the effectiveness of MMI on different subgroups of the elderly population.

This meta-analysis suggests that Tai Chi may be an additional form of aerobic exercise. The greatest benefit was seen from the classical Yang style of Tai Chi exercise when performed for 1-year by sedentary adults with an initial low level of physical activity habits.

Tai chi can effectively affect the management of blood glucose and HbA1c in type-2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. Long-term adherence to Tai chi has a better role in reducing blood glucose and HbA1c levels in type 2 DM patients.

This systematic review and meta-analysis of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Tai Chi suggests Tai Chi is a relatively safe activity that can result in gains in general motor function and improve bradykinesia and balance.

Stroke patients are able to improve their balance functions and exercise capacities prominently when they do Tai Chi exercise once or twice a week and ≥5 times/week and >30 ≤ 60 min/time.

Tai Chi may have the potential to reduce dyspnoea, enhance exercise capacity, and improve the quality of life in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients. People with COPD may obtain benefit from practicing Tai Chi.

Meta-analysis reported a statistically significant effect size favouring sitting Tai Chi on depressive symptoms, heart rate and social domain of quality of life. Sitting Tai Chi was found to have favourable effects on depressive symptoms, heart rate, and social domain of quality of life of individuals with impaired physical mobility.

Findings indicate that Tai Chi does not result in more adverse events than active and inactive control conditions, and produces fewer adverse events than inactive control conditions for heart failure patients.