Purposes: The purposes of this study were to investigate whether balance and the related functional performance of the elderly who have been practicing Tai-Chi-Chuan regularly were better than those who doing other exercise, and whether the occurrence of falls of the former was lesser than the latter. Methods: Fifty-on elderly (38 males, 13 females, with mean age 70.5±5.1) who have been practicing Tai-Chi-Chuan regularly for at least one year (average 8.1 years) consisted the experimental group, while the control group was composed by 57 subjects (27 males, 30 females, with mean age 67.4±5.9). All of the subjects received the following tests balance master machine test, one leg stand with eye open and eye closed, functional reach, six-meter walking velocity, as flexibility, lower extremity muscle strength, grip strength, and ankle ROM. With age and gender as covariates, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was applied to examine group differences upon multiple dependent variables following this by ANCOVA separately for each dependent variable. Results: The Tai-Chi group had less females, more minor chronic diseases, also and older than lontrol group. However, this group showed better performance in sensory organization test, weight shifting ability, one leg stand with eye open and eye closed test, functional reach, flexibility, muscle strength of ankle plantarflexors, grip strength, ROM of ankle dorsiflexion, and sixmeter walking velocity, in addition, less falls in the previous year. Conclusion: Practicing Tai-Chi-Chuan showed better results in improving balance and the related functional performance than other types of exercise in the elderly.
Purposes: The purposes of this study were to investigate whether balance and the related functional performance of the elderly who have been practicing Tai-Chi-Chuan regularly were better than those who doing other exercise, and whether the occurrence of falls of the former was lesser than the latter. Methods: Fifty-on elderly (38 males, 13 females, with mean age 70.5±5.1) who have been practicing Tai-Chi-Chuan regularly for at least one year (average 8.1 years) consisted the experimental group, while the control group was composed by 57 subjects (27 males, 30 females, with mean age 67.4±5.9). All of the subjects received the following tests balance master machine test, one leg stand with eye open and eye closed, functional reach, six-meter walking velocity, as flexibility, lower extremity muscle strength, grip strength, and ankle ROM. With age and gender as covariates, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was applied to examine group differences upon multiple dependent variables following this by ANCOVA separately for each dependent variable. Results: The Tai-Chi group had less females, more minor chronic diseases, also and older than lontrol group. However, this group showed better performance in sensory organization test, weight shifting ability, one leg stand with eye open and eye closed test, functional reach, flexibility, muscle strength of ankle plantarflexors, grip strength, ROM of ankle dorsiflexion, and sixmeter walking velocity, in addition, less falls in the previous year. Conclusion: Practicing Tai-Chi-Chuan showed better results in improving balance and the related functional performance than other types of exercise in the elderly.