Tai Chi May Not Be an Answer to the Risk of Falling

A new Dutch study has examined the possible protective effect of Tai Chi training on the likelihood of falls in elderly people. Published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the study was done in 138 elderly people participating in Tai Chi Chuan training and 131 similar people who received “usual care”.

The subjects averaged 77 years of age; 71% of them were women. The Tai Chi group attended 1 hour training sessions, twice a week, for 13 weeks. All the subjects kept daily calendar records of whether or not they had fallen.

Over a 12-month period there were 115 falls in the Tai Chi-trained group, compared with 90 falls in the “usual care” group. Clearly, Tai Chi did not protect these elders from falling. This result contradicts earlier studies that do, indeed, show a benefit from Tai Chi.

Two years ago I summarized a study that showed that a a balance–training program focused on increasing step length and speed, called Combined Balance and Stepping Training (CBST), was superior to Tai Chi in fall prevention. So save your $$$ - Tai Chi instruction can be expensive and may not do much for your balance(s).