Effectiveness of Tai chi exercise on overall quality of life and its physical and psychological components among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

With the aging of the world's population, the quality of life of older adults is becoming more important. There are many studies on the use of Tai chi exercise, a popular form of mind-body exercise practiced by older adults. However, the effectiveness of Tai chi exercise on the quality of life of older adults is unclear. For this systematic review and meta-analysis, six databases (PubMed, CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, Scopus, CNKI) were searched in English and Chinese languages to screen for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCT), and their risk of bias was assessed by two independent reviewers. The results of quality of life, physical component, and psychological component among older adults were meta-analyzed using RevMan5.3 software. The search retrieved 2577 records. After screening, a total of 10 RCTs were included in this evaluation, with a total of 1170 participants. The meta-analysis showed that compared with the control group, Tai chi exercise had a significant impact on the overall quality of life (SMD=1.23; 95%CI: 0.56-1.98; Po0.0001), and on the physical component of quality of life (MD=5.90; 95%CI: 1.05-10.75; P=0.02), but no significant impact on the psychological component of quality of life. This study had high heterogeneity. The results of this study suggest the potential use of Tai chi exercise as an activity for increased quality of life in older adults. Future research may enhance experimental rigor and explore the rationale behind Tai chi exercise.

Prevención del riesgo de caída en adultos mayores con programa Kunte durante confinamiento por COVID-19 (Prevention older adults fall risk with Kunte program during COVID-19 confinement)

“…Lo que sustenta, de acuerdo a Araque et al (2020), que los programas multicomponentes que integran ejercicios físicos combinados de fuerza, equilibrio, flexibilidad, coordinación, entre otros; mejoran la agilidad y el balance corporal relacionados con la disminución del riesgo de caída, junto al aumento de la autoestima y bienestar emocional durante la ejecución de actividades de la vida diaria, promoviendo la calidad de vida de los AM. Efectos que si bien son factibles de lograrse con diferentes modalidades de ejercicios físicos; en el caso del programa Kunte se ha demostrado beneficios similares a los presentados por intervenciones con influencia oriental como el Tai Chi, mejorando el balance corporal y disminuyendo el riesgo de caída (Wang et al, 2020). Por lo que, en consecuencia a lo planteado por Shi et al (2020), el Tai Chí así como esta propuesta denominada Kunte, podría ser recomendada a futuro como una alternativa efectiva y segura para la recuperación física post COVID-19, como lo serían para Shi et al (2020) las intervención con ejercicios de Tai Chi; reforzado según lo expuesto por Chen et al (2020) quienes describen el envejecimiento como un proceso individual que amerita de una prescripción de ejercicios en función al estado de salud y funcionalidad de cada persona, centrado en una medición objetiva y adecuada supervisión para incrementar la complejidad e intensidad de los estímulos de manera gradual.…”

“…En el caso de los programas de ejercicios para prevenir caídas en AM, según Chen et al (2020), son variados y en general se orientan al control del balance corporal e incremento de la fuerza para miembros inferiores. Como parte de estas intervenciones, el Tai Chi se destaca por ser un sistema de ejercicios tradicionales chinos que integra el trabajo corporal y mental, de intensidad baja a moderada, centrado en movimientos coordinados suaves de bajo impacto; con suficiente evidencia científica para ser recomendados en AM al provocar mejoras en el balance corporal, la fuerza muscular, propiocepción y adaptaciones posturales; además de influir en el aspecto mental reduciendo el estrés, ansiedad, alteraciones del ánimo, depresión y aumentar la autoestima (Chen et al, 2020;Shi et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020). Con características similares a los movimientos que contiene el Tai Chi, en Chile se elaboró el programa denominado Kunte.…”

Is Tai Chi an effective intervention for enhancing health‐related quality of life in older people with mild cognitive impairment? An interventional study

“…In addition, Tai Chi initiates auto-regulatory healing, which has been associated with the alleviation of neuroendocrine response to stress by decreasing nervous system activity (Zhang et al, 2012). Increasing scientific evidence has shown that Tai Chi training has positive effects on the overall health, well-being and QOL in different groups of people (Wang et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2020). For all people, mental health is a major part of, and closely related to, physical and social health (Ohrnberger et al, 2017;Umberson, & Montez, 2010).…”

Determining the safety and effectiveness of Tai Chi: A critical overview of 210 systematic reviews of controlled clinical trials

“…For women in the perimenopausal life-stage, there was moderate certainty evidence of a clinically important effect for some of the Short Form Health Survey 36-item (SF-36) QoL domains (general health, vitality, bodily pain, and mental health) and low certainty evidence of equivalence to other control groups for the physical and social function QoL domains [91]. For older adults with or without chronic diseases, there were clinically important improvements in overall QoL that was measured using various generic and disease-speci c QoL tools (low certainty) [90]. For those with chronic diseases there were small improvements in both the physical and mental health SF-36/SF-12 QoL domains (moderate certainty) [61].…”