Effects of Tai Chi Chuan on cognition of elderly women with mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

Objective: To detect the effects of Tai Chi Chuan practice on the cognition of elderly subjects with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Methods: This is a pilot study with 26 elderly patients (mean age of 74 years) with Mild Cognitive Impairment. The evaluation instruments were Subjective Memory Complaint Scale (SMC), Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT) and Digit Span Forward and Backward (DSF and DSB) from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). One group of 13 patients received two weekly 60-minute classes of Tai Chi Chuan (Yang style) for 6 consecutive months, and the rest formed the Control Group. The Tai Chi Chuan Group was also evaluated as to learning of the Tai Chi Chuan practical exercises by means of a Specific Learning Test applied after three months of intervention. results: After six months of intervention, the TCC Group showed significant improvement on the RBMT and the SMC (p = 0.007 and p = 0.023, respectively). The Control Group showed no significant differences in the cognitive tests during the study. There was a significant correlation between the Tai Chi Chuan Learning Test and RBMT (p = 0.008), showing that patients with a better performance in exercising TCC also showed a better performance in memory. conclusions: In this study, a sixmonth program of Tai Chi Chuan afforded a significant improvement of the performance of memory complaints in the elderly with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Additional randomized studies with larger samples and more prolonged follow-up are needed to confirm these benefits.

Effects of Mind‐Body Exercises on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Meta‐Analysis

“…A total of 32 randomized clinical trials with 3624 participants were included in the analysis. The age of the included participants ranged from 50 to 85 years.…”

“…The outcome assessments were blinded in 20 studies (62.5%) . Thirty studies (93.75%) had a low risk of attrition bias because most studies reported the dropout rate or represented detailed explanations. Overall, 21 studies (65.6%) 16–22,24,25,27–29,33–35,37–40 were recognized as having a low risk of methodological quality, and the remaining studies were deemed to have a low methodological quality.…”

“…The treatments used for the intervention groups included tai chi, [14][15][16][17]25,26,28,29,31,33,[35][36][37][38][39][40]42,43 yoga, 13,[21][22][23][24]32,34,41 and dance. 12,[18][19][20]27,30 Different practices of mind-body exercises included varied schools that were12/24-form Yang-style tai chi, ballroom dance, Iyengar or Kundalini yoga, and so on (the detailed schools are shown in Supplementary Table S1).…”

Effects of Tai Chi on Cognition and Fall Risk in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The sample size for the study was determined for the primary outcome measures based on previous findings that yielded effect sizes of 0.99 for memory tests and 0.76 for the digit span test. With 80% power and a 5% type I error, a sample size of 34 was required to detect change on the memory test and 58 on the digit span test.…”

Balance, General Cognition and Lower Motoric Strength in Elderly: Tai Chi Versus Brisk Walking

“…6,7 Tai Chi improves balance, as shown by the Timed Up and Go (TUG) Test. 8 However, studies that compare Tai Chi to other moderate exercises are still rare.…”