More benefits of tai chi in elderly people
There are some benefits in eye-hand coordination, according to this study from researchers in Taiwan.
First, the details.
- 42 elderly people participated in this study.
- Those in the tai chi chuan group practiced this “soft” Chinese martial art regularly for more than 3 years.
- The rest were healthy and active elderly people.
- Each participant stroked a sensor, which recorded the start and end positions, duration of movement, pause time, peak velocity, and the time to reach peak velocity.
And, the results.
- The tai chi group showed significantly better results in decrease of displacement, movement time, pause time, number of submovements, and better skewness coefficients (degree of asymmetry) compared to the control group.
- The difference in the peak velocity between the groups was not significant.
The bottom line?
This is the third study covered here in the past year to report the benefits of tai chi in older people — here and here.
2/21/08 18:57 JR