A comparison of balance and leg muscle strength between tai chi and yoga in older adults: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: There is increasing evidence that practicing tai chi or yoga can improve the elderly’s physical performance. This study aimed to compare the effects of tai chi and yoga on balance and leg muscle strength in the elderly. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 90 elderly persons who practice tai chi (n = 36), yoga (n = 23), and a control group (n = 31). The balance function was assessed using the single-leg stance (SLS) test, while leg muscle strength (LMS) was assessed using a leg-back dynamometer. A Chi-square, Spearman rank test, one-way ANOVA with LSD post hoc were applied. The significance was set at p<0.05. Results: One-way ANOVA showed a difference in LMS and SLS between groups (p<0.01). LSD post hoc analysis found the difference in LMS between tai chi and yoga (64.3 vs. 41.5, p<0.01) and tai chi and control (64.3 vs. 30.4, p<0.01). The difference was also found in SLS between tai chi and control (36.7 vs. 6.2, p<0.01) and between yoga and control (41.4 vs. 6.2, p<0.01). Conclusion: Elderly persons who participated in tai chi and yoga demonstrated higher LMS and SLS performance than the sedentary participants. The tai chi group showed better muscle strength than the yoga group.

Dance-based interventions on balance and falls in the elderly in order to health promotion: a literature review

“…Hakim et al detailed that both the Tai Chi and yoga exercise groups illustrated superior balance performance compared to the no-exercise group, 37 while Jelita et al indicated that the yoga group had slightly improved balance (single-leg stance (SLS)) over the Tai Chi group. 19 This happens because yoga is usually done barefoot on less steady surfaces, such as a mat or sand, while tai chi is usually performed on more stable, flat, harder surfaces, such as floor tile or ground. Practicing yoga on a less stable surface may increase the body's vagal action.…”

“…6 studies have examined the effect of yoga, 17,18,21,29,30,34 4 studies have studied Tai chi 22,23,26,32 and 2 studies have evaluated the effect of Tai chi and yoga. 19,37 Pilates has also been used as an intervention in 4 studies, 20,25,31,35 aerobics in 4 studies, 24,27,28,33 and the effect of dance has been studied in 2 other studies. 15,36 All of these 22 studies reported an improvement in balance and fall prevention after dancebased interventions in old people.…”

“…Studies on dance in older adults included similar short-term interventions of 10 weeks 22 and 8 weeks, 23,27,30,31,34,37 , although some were as short as four 17,21 , and six weeks. 36 A few studies in older people have investigated longer intervention periods of 3 months, 19,20,25,29,33,35 , 15 weeks, 32 4 months, 18,26,28 , 8 months 24 , or as long as 1 year. 15 Older individuals had a wider range of training routines, while two to three times per week was the most typical.…”