Coordination exercise and postural stability in elderly people: Effect of Tai Chi Chuan

Objective: To evaluate the effects of coordination exercise on postural sta bility in older individuals by Chinese shadow boxing, Tai Chi Chuan (TCC). Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Research project in a hospital-based biomechanical laboratory. Participants: The TCC group (n = 25) had been practicing TCC regularly for 2 to 35 years. The control group (n = 14) included healthy and active older subjects. Intervention: Static postural stability test: progressively harder sequenti al tests with 6 combinations of vision (eyes open, eyes closed, sway-refere nced) and support (fixed, sway-referenced); and dynamic balance test: 3 tes ts of weight shifting (left to right, forward-backward, multidirectional) a t 3 speeds. Main Outcome Measures: Static and dynamic balance of Sensory Organization T esting (SOT) of the Smart Balance Master System. Results: In static postural control, the results showed no differences betw een the TCC or control group in the more simple conditions, but in the more complicated SOT (eyes closed with sway surface, sway vision with sway surf ace), the TCC group had significantly better results than the control group . The TCC group also had significantly better results in the rhythmic forwa rd-backward weight-shifting test. Duration of practice did not seem to affe ct the stability of elder people. Conclusion: The elderly people who regularly practiced TCC showed better po stural stability in the more challenged conditions than those who do not le g, the condition with simultaneous disturbance of vision and proprioception ). TCC as a coordination exercise may reduce the risk of a fall through mai ntaining the ability of posture control.