Impaired balance is one of the symptoms of those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease. They also tend to fall often, and are less able to function on a day to day basis as the disease progresses.
Exercise is encouraged – yet until this research, few forms of exercise had been shown to be effective. This study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine , was conducted in 2012. It found that tai chi was the form of exercise that consistently helped patients with Parkinson’s disease.
These patients were taken through a tailored tai chi programme to test if this form of exercise could improve their ability to control their posture.
The other forms of exercise that were compared to the tai chi were stretching and resistance training. All the participants only did 60 minutes of exercise, twice a week, over a period of 24 week.
The results showed that “the tai chi group performed consistently better than the resistance-training and stretching groups in maximum excursion”. Incidence of falls were lowered too, and they found that resistance training also helped with this aspect.
It is interesting to note too that the effects of the training in tai chi were maintained when they checked in with the patients 3 months after the tai chi programme ended.
So if you would like to improve your balance and posture control, consider taking up the practice of tai chi, and come and join us for a free trail class.
To find out how tai chi can help you with managing your health challenges and improving your balance, contact your Sifu, Leo Low Ming, on 0833780468.