Abstract
This study evaluated the efficacy of a 5-month Tai Chi intervention for improving physical fitness and preventing falling in community-dwelling elderly women. Sixty elderly women were randomly assigned to either Tai Chi intervention (n=30, average age: 72.2 (3.5 years) or control (n=30, average age: 71.6 (4.5 years) groups. Physical fitness measures and questionnaires (including subjects' history of falling, compliance with daily practice of Tai Chi, impression of Tai Chi, and wish to continue with Tai Chi) were conducted before and after the intervention. In the Tai Chi group, the physical fitness measures, including one-leg standing time, grip strength, Functional Reach (FR), walking speed, standing trunk flexion, and swing one-leg while standing on the other leg, improved significantly by the end of the 5-month intervention. In the control group, none of the measures showed significant differences. Significantly fewer people fell during the intervention and the subsequent 6-month period compared with the 1-year period before the intervention.
