Tai Chi practice reduces movement force variability for sectors

Background. The purpose of this study was to examine whether Tai Chi practi ce can reduce the inconsistency of arm movement force output in older adult s. Methods. Twenty seniors tool; part in the 8-week-long exercise intervention program (12 in Tai Chi practice, M = 79.3 years, SD = 2.4; and 8 in a loco motor activity group, walking or jogging, M = 79.5 years, SD = 1.9). Linear and curvilinear manual aiming movements were tested at the beginning (pret est), during 4th week (retest), and the end of the exercise program (post-t est). The measure of vertical pressure on the surface of a tablet served as the dependent variable. Results. The findings suggest that the Tai Chi participants significantly r educe more pressure variability than the participants in locomotor activity group after 8 weeks of practice. Additionally seniors produced higher pres sure variability in the curvilinear task than in the linear task. Conclusions. Evidence from this study proposes that Tai Chi practice may se rve as a better real world exercise for reducing force variability in older adults' manual performance.