Extending the Continuum of Care with Tai Chi

Physical Therapy: Extending the Continuum of Care with Tai Chi

Preparing 21st Century Allied Health Professionals to use this ancient healing technology.

A Continuing Education Opportunity: 8 CPTA approved CEH’ s Read More

“The sustained benefits of Tai Chi justify advocating long-term practice.  With this accumulated evidence, the time is near for Tai Chi to be recommended as a preferred exercise for balance training and to be routinely prescribed for older patients at risk for falling after appropriate screening.”

Summary of the Updated American Geriatrics Society/British Geriatrics Society Clinical Practice Guideline for Prevention of  Falls in Older Persons:   Exercise recommendations in the 2010 guidelines specify programs that include balance, gait, and strength training, such as tai chi or physical therapy, in group programs or as individual programs at home.

J Am Geriatr Soc. 2003 Dec;51(12):1804-5.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 1996 May;44(5):599-600.  The Atlanta FICSIT (Frailty and Injuries: Cooperative Studies of
Intervention Techniques), a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial with three arms (TC, BT, and education [ED].  After adjusting for fall risk factors, TC was found to reduce the risk of multiple falls by 47.5%.

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Tai Chi and Fall Reductions in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial. At the end of the 6-month intervention, significantly fewer falls, lower proportions of fallers, and fewer injurious falls were observed in the Tai Chi group compared with the stretching control group. After adjusting for baseline covariates, the risk for multiple falls in the Tai Chi group was 55% lower than that of the stretching control group (risk ratio, .45; 95% confidence interval, 0.30 to 0.70).