Taichi lessens the Occurence of Falls among Stroke Survivors

A new study suggests that practicing Taichi might reduce the chances of fall for Stroke survivor patients.

Taichi is one of the oldest martial arts that originated in China. It allows the body to flow the environment around people.

Ruth E. Taylor-Piliae, Ph.D., R.N., the study’s principal investigator and assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Nursing in Tucson, Ariz said that a stroke survivor has a hard time balancing thus they might fall every now and then. Practicing Taichi allows them to improve both their static and dynamic balance. Both are needed if you hope to reduce the number of falls that might happen.

Compared to a healthy adult, stroke survivors underwent several falls in a year. The falls that happen to survivor patients not only do damage on the outside, but do it’s serious damage on the inside. Practicing Taichi will lessen the fall that might happen to a healthy adult or a stroke survivor.

For the study, researchers got participation from 89 stroke survivors. The average age of the participants were 70 years old; 46 percent were women, and most Caucasian college educated who lives in the Tucson area, and suffered a stroke on average three years before the study ever began.

30 practiced Tai Chi on a daily basis; 28 took part in usual care, and 31 participated in SilverSneakers®. The Tai Chi and SilverSneakers® groups joined in a one-hour exercise class three times each week for 12 weeks. The usual care group welcomed a weekly phone call and written material about the event in their community.

Throughout the 12-week trial, a total of reported falls in participants’ homes mainly from accidents like slipping or tripping: five comes from the Tai Chi group; 15 falls in the usual care group, and 14 falls in the Silver Sneakers group. Out of all the participants, there were only four people wanted medical treatment.

Taylor-Piliae noted that the main benefits that people can get from practicing Tai Chi are better balance, improved strength, flexibility and aerobic endurance. There are also some psychological benefits like less depression, anxiety and stress, and better quality of life.