Health Studies
Tai Chi Improves Balance & Reduces Fall Risk In Elderly Adults
A number of interventions, including adaptation and modification of home environment, exercise, medication modification and vitamin D supplementation, have been applied for preventing falls. Tai Chi is a traditional systematic calisthenics exercise widely practiced in China. Tai Chi has been shown to be effective in improving balance, proprioception, muscle strength and endurance, therefore it may be beneficial for preventing falls among the elderly. To date, the preventive effect of Tai Chi has been evaluated by a number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs); however, their findings were inconsistent. Although some authors have synthesized the results of the related original trials, these secondary studies might miss some trials and some recently published RCTs were not included. Moreover, the preventive effect of Tai Chi may vary with Tai Chi style, exercise dose, exercise duration and time of follow-up, but the preventive effect in these subgroups was unclear. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Tai Chi for preventing falls in older adults by updating the latest trial evidence. The secondary aim was to explore the association between the effectiveness and potential influential factors including Tai Chi frequency, total exercise time, follow-up time, falling risk at enrollment and type of Tai Chi.
Abstract:
Objectives:
It remains unclear whether Tai Chi is effective for preventing falls in older adults. We undertook this systematic review to evaluate the preventive effect of Tai Chi by updating the latest trial evidence. 
Design:
The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched up to February 2016 to identify randomized trials evaluating Tai Chi for preventing falls in older adults. We evaluated the risk of bias of included trials using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool. Results were combined using random effects meta-analysis. 
Results:
18 trials with 3824 participants were included. The Tai Chi group was associated with significantly lower chance of falling at least once (risk ratio (RR) 0.80, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.88) and rate of falls (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.69, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.80) than the control group. Subgroup analyses suggested that the preventive effect was likely to increase with exercise frequency (number of fallers: p=0.001; rate of falls: p=0.007) and Yang style Tai Chi was likely to be more effective than Sun style Tai Chi (number of fallers: p=0.01; rate of falls: p=0.001). The results might be influenced by publication bias as the funnel plots showed asymmetry. Sensitivity analyses by sample size, risk of bias and comorbidity showed no major influence on the primary results. 
Conclusion:
Tai Chi is effective for preventing falls in older adults. The preventive effect is likely to increase with exercise frequency and Yang style Tai Chi seems to be more effective than Sun style Tai Chi. 
LINK:
Huang, Zhi-Guan, et al. “Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Tai Chi for Preventing Falls in Older Adults.” BMJ Open, BMJ Publishing Group, 6 Feb. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28167744.
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