12-month Tai Chi training in the elderly: its effect on health fitness

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of Tai Chi Chuan(TCC) on health fitness in older individuals. Thirty-eight community-dwelling persons aged 58 to 70 yr completed this study. The TCC group included 9 men and 11 women; the control group included 9 men and 9 women. The TCC group practiced TCC for 11.2 ± 1.4 months, with the attendance of 4.6 ± 1.3 times·wk-1. Each session included 20 min of warm-up, 24 min of TCC practice, and 10 min of cooldown. The exercise intensity was 52-63% of the heart rate range. Cardiorespiratory function, strength, flexibility, and percent of body fat were evaluated before and at the end of this study. The male TCC group showed 16.1% increase in ˙VO2max (P< 0.01), 11° increase in thoracic/lumbar flexibility (P < 0.05), 18.1% increase in muscle strength of knee extensor (P < 0.01), and 15.4% increase of knee flexor (P < 0.05). The female TCC group showed 21.3% increase in ˙VO2max (P < 0.01), 8.8° increase in flexibility (P < 0.05), 20.3% increase in muscle strength of knee extensor (P < 0.05), and 15.9% increase of knee flexor (P < 0.05). The control group showed no significant change in these variables. The results indicate that a 12-month Tai Chi Chuan program is effective for improving health fitness of the elderly.