Some emerging research demonstrates the potential effectiveness of Tai Chi in providing short-term improvement in cognitive function in the early stages of dementia. Burgener et al conducted a 40-week intervention with people living with dementia to evaluate the effectiveness of a multimodal intervention. The authors concluded that interventions combining Tai Chi, cognitive therapy and participation in a support group can be effective in improving or maintaining cognitive function for people with dementia. Wayne et al conducted a systematic review to explore the effectiveness of Tai Chi on cognitive performance in adults with and without cognitive impairment, concluding that Tai Chi may enhance executive function in older adults without significant impairment; however, their sample included participants with early stages to advanced stages of dementia, and this heterogeneous group may have masked the effects for any subgroups of participants.
Given the lack of consensus on the efficacy of pharmacological approaches and the emphasis on behavioral-focused treatments in the clinical setting, there has been growing interest in behavioral interventions, such as Tai Chi. The purpose of this systematic review is to examine intervention studies using Tai Chi in the early stages of dementia to determine the effectiveness of Tai Chi to improve short-term cognitive function.
A keyword search was done in PubMed/MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), and Cochrane Library databases using keywords such as Tai Chi, Dementia*, and cognition. A secondary search strategy consisting of a manual search in the reference lists of selected articles was also used.
A total of nine studies were reviewed including six randomized controlled trials, two non-randomized controlled trials, and one non-randomized prospective study. The studies suggest Tai Chi has impacts on global cognitive functions, visuospatial skills, semantic memory, verbal learning/memory, and self-perception of memory. The effects of Tai Chi on overall cognition for people with mild cognitive impairment are comparable to those in control groups which engaged in exercise
Lim, Karine Huy-Leng et al. “The effectiveness of Tai Chi for short-term cognitive function improvement in the early stages of dementia in the elderly: a systematic literature review.” Clinical interventions in aging vol. 14 827-839. 8 May. 2019, doi:10.2147/CIA.S202055
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