Effects of tai chi exercise on posturography, gait, physical function and quality of life in postmenopausal women with osteopaenia: a randomized clinical study

Abstract

tai chi exercise may reduce risk factors for falls by increasing the stride width, and may improve quality of life in terms of general health, vitality and bodily pain in postmenopausal women with osteopaenia.

Impaired Ability to Perform the Sit-to-Stand Task in Osteoporotic Women

“…However, in some studies in which the sit-to-stand test was applied to elderly individuals, the results regarding the time spent for performing the tasks are close to those obtained in the present study (Whitney et al, 2005;Aslan et al, 2008;Schaubert & Bohannon, 2005), which suggests that the decrease of the movement velocity is associated to many factors of aging process and not to the bone mineral density (BMD) directly. The spent time to perform the five-chair sit-to-stand test in women aged 65 years or older with osteopenia (Chyu et al, 2010;Alp et al, 2007) was similar to the present study. In another study conducted with osteoporotic women (Alp et al, 2007), the sit-to-stand test was performed 10 times as quickly as possible, and the values obtained was approximately twice the time spent by women in our study (in our study they performed the sit-to-stand movements five times consecutively as quickly as possible).…”

Physical exercise and osteoporosis: effects of different types of exercises on bone and physical function of postmenopausal women

“…The authors also concluded that for the BMD of spine combined exercises (resistance + aerobic + impact) seem to be most recommended Gait re-education and proprioceptive exercises should also be performed in a swimming pool (water at the xiphoid process level) because water can add an "extra" imbalance to these exercises (31) 18 weeks of resistance, proprioception and balance training can reduce the number of falls, improve functional capacity, dynamic balance and quality of life when compared to the control group. The incidence of falls was reduced by 38% in the training group, versus a 16% reduction in the control group (32) Tai-chi Chuan (3 times a week, during 12 weeks) in 77 postmenopausal women, improved by 17.8% the knee extensor strength and 26.1% the static balance, without changes in control group (33) The risk of falls in osteopenic post-menopausal women was evaluated before and after 24 weeks of tai chi training. There was an improvement in tread width, stability of the trunk and a decrease in the number of falls Whole body vibration (36,37) Experimental work showed that the mechanical vibration may be beneficial for bone microarchitecture, improving bone density and bone strength (38) Vibratory stimuli in the form of a vibrating platform of low frequency and intensity (30 Hz, 0.2g) inhibited bone loss in the spine and femur in osteopenic women with low weight after one year of treatment (39) The mechanical vibration mitigates bone loss mainly in the femoral site The isolated effect of low frequency vibration versus walking (3 x/week, for 8 weeks) in post-menopausal women was studied and the vibration group showed better results than control group, improving the femoral neck BMD by 4.3% and the body balance by 29%…”

“…Chyu and cols. (33) evaluated the risk of falls in osteopenic post-menopausal women before and after 24 weeks of tai chi training and concluded that this practice improved tread width (important for the gait improvement), trunk stability and, therefore, decrease the number of falls. In addition to Tai-chi, dancing, especially ballroom dancing, can also be recommended because it helps training weight transfer, coordination and proprioception.…”

Impaired Dynamic Balance Is Associated with Falling in Post-Stroke Patients

“…A fall was defined as any unplanned or unexpected contact of the body with a supporting surface (ground, chair, wall, step, etc.) (Chyu et al 2010). The participants were divided into 2 groups according to their history of falls: faller (n = 34) and nonfaller (n = 32) groups.…”