This quasi-experimental study investigated effects of Tai Chi Chuan training on stereotypic behavior of children with autism spectrum disorder. Twenty-three participants (mean age = 9.60 ± ...1.40 years) were assigned to experimental (N = 12) and control (N = 11) groups. The experimental group received 12 weeks of Tai Chi training and all participants had pre, post, and one-month follow-up assessments. Stereotypic behavior measured using Gilliam Autism Rating Scale 2 Scores, was significantly altered by ~ 25% in the Tai Chi Chuan group. Behavioral change was maintained at follow up since there was no significant difference between that and the posttest. In conclusion, Tai Chi Chuan training is a useful and appropriate intervention to modulate behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.
Insomnia and depression are prevalent mental disorders that are often comorbid among older adults. Lifestyle intervention strategies incorporating Tai Chi or conventional exercise have been shown to ...alleviate symptoms of insomnia and depression. However, the comparative efficacy of these exercise modalities in individuals with both disorders has yet to be determined. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the efficacy of Tai Chi and conventional exercise for reducing depressive symptoms in older adults with chronic insomnia and depressive symptoms, when compared to a health education control.
This study is a prospective, assessor-blinded, three-arm, parallel group, randomized controlled trial. Older adults aged ≥60 years with a diagnosis of chronic insomnia and depressive symptoms will be randomly assigned to a Tai Chi, conventional exercise or health education control condition on a 1:1:1 basis. Interventions will last for 3 months, with a 6-month follow-up period. The primary outcome is depressive symptoms, assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Secondary outcomes include subjective sleep quality, 7-day actigraphy, 7-day sleep diary, anxiety symptoms, quality of life, medication usage and physical function. All measurements will be conducted at baseline, 3 months and 9 months by outcome assessors who are blinded to group allocation.
This study will compare the efficacy of Tai Chi and conventional exercise in improving depression outcomes in older adults with chronic insomnia and depressive symptoms. Our results will shed light on the clinical potential of these interventions for combating insomnia and depression in older adults.
Urban green open space is a valuable resource for physical activities of urban inhabitants and has the potential to reduce chronic illness and improve health. Research on the relationships between ...green open space and physical activity is incomplete and limited in China. Thus, the study examines how the urban green open space contributes to physical activity.
A questionnaire was designed based on the social ecology theory to investigate the physical activity of 513 residents in urban green open space. We use the time and frequency of residents exercising in urban green space to measure physical activity, and use the factor analysis to synthesize a large number of original factors (i.e., infrastructure, safety, accessibility, landscape quality, and space environment) into relatively few composite indicators. Based on the collected data of the cross-sectional population, the Order Probit regression model was constructed to analyze how urban green open space affects the residents' physical activity from the perspective of social ecology.
① in community factors: accessibility is significantly positive correlation with residents' physical activity, and there is no significant correlation between safety and physical activity; ②in natural factors: space environment and landscape quality are not significantly correlated with residents' physical activity; ③ in built environmental factors: infrastructures, the area of green space, the size of open space, and entertainment facilities are significantly correlated to residents' activity. Basketball courts, volleyball courts, swimming pools, and sports equipment will promote physical activity; ④ apart from the attributes of green open space, other factors are significantly correlated to physical activity in the green open space, e.g. having a companion.
Urban green open space plays an important role in promoting physical activity especially among the women and the old, and improving the attributes (such as accessibility, infrastructures, the area of green space, the size of open space and entertainment facilities) of the urban green open space and trying to set up group sports proper to play with companion (like "square dancing" and "Tai Chi") can promote Chinese residents' physical activity so as to improve public health. The results are significant to facilitate environment health.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Falls play a pivotal role in the cause of injury or death and have become a public health problem, especially for older people. Tai Chi may be an effective approach to improving balance and reducing ...falls. However, the conclusions of systematic reviews (SRs) have been inconsistent and the quality needs to be appraised critically.
To provide an overview of the methodological quality, risk of bias and reporting quality as well as quality of evidence of SRs of Tai Chi for improving balance and reducing falls.
We conducted a systematic search of English- and Chinese-language SRs in 8 electronic databases, from inception to October 2019. The methodological quality, risk of bias, reporting quality and the quality of evidence were independently assessed by 2 reviewers who used the A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR 2), Risk of Bias in Systematic reviews (ROBIS), the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and Grades of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). Primary outcomes were fall rate and the Berg Balance Scale score in older people and people with Parkinson disease. Secondary outcomes included these outcomes in stroke, osteoarthritis and heart failure.
A total of 14 relevant SRs were included: 13 were rated critically low quality and 1 was rated low quality by AMSTAR 2. By the ROBIS, all SRs were rated low risk in Phase 1 (assessing relevance) and Domain 1 of Phase 2 (study eligibility criteria). With regard to Domain 2, assessing the identification and selection of studies, 3 (21.4%) SRs were rated low risk. Eleven (71.4%) were rated low risk in Domain 3 (data collection and study appraisal), 11 (71.4%) were rated low risk in Domain 4 (synthesis and findings), and 9 (64.3%) were rated low risk in Phase 3 (risk of bias in the review). According to PRISMA, the reporting was relatively complete, but there were still some reporting flaws in the topic of protocol and registration (2/14, 14.3%), search strategy (5/14, 35.7%), risk of bias (6/14, 42.9%), additional analyses (6/14, 42.9%) and funding (4/14, 28.6%). Among the 14 SRs, Tai Chi had benefits for improving balance and reducing falls in older people and people with Parkinson disease; however, no definitive conclusions could be drawn for its effectiveness in stroke, osteoarthritis and heart failure. The level of evidence for fall rate was “moderate” to “high” for older people and “low” for those with Parkinson disease. The level of evidence of the Berg Balance Scale was “low” to “moderate” for older people and “low” for those with Parkinson disease. Among the downgraded factors, imprecision was the most common, followed by inconsistency and publication bias.
Tai Chi may be beneficial for improving balance and reducing falls in older people and those with Parkinson disease. Because of limitations and inconsistent conclusions, further rigorous, normative and comprehensive SRs are needed to provide robust evidence for definitive conclusions.
Compared with traditional clothing, wearable textiles with physiotherapy were a breakthrough innovation, among which fiber materials with good mechanical properties and excellent electrical ...conductivity were key. Herein, we prepared profiled conductive composite fibers (PCFs) with Tai Chi structure based on the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and carboxylic multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by wet spinning, achieving the synchronous improvement of mechanical and conductivity under a small quantity of conductive fillers doped. By changing the angle of spinning, the migration of MWCNTs could be induced and controlled, realizing the preparation of Tai Chi structure. The PAN and MWCNTs were enriched into the axial unilateral of fibers respectively, similar to the Tai Chi structure, when the spinning angle was 30°. The special Tai Chi structure could concentrate carriers to form a continuous and interpenetrating conductive path and retained the good flexibility and tensile strength of composite fibers. The PCFs prepared with 6 wt% MWCNTs loading possessed 51.6 S/cm and 291 MPa. The wearable electric heaters prepared by PCFs could get a comfortable temperature (30 °C ∼ 60 °C) under the safe voltage condition and had good repeatability and stability, which was expected to provide valuable reference for the development of thermotherapy textiles.
Display omitted
•Profiled conductive composite fibers (PCFs) with Tai Chi structure were prepared.•PCFs possessed excellent conductivity of 51.6 S/cm and good strength of 291 MPa.•Thermotherapy textiles prepared by PCFs displayed good repeatability and stability.
Hypertension is caused by stiffness in the arteries which results in an increase in blood pressure which can cause strokes in patients so that they cannot carry out daily activities, it can even be ...fatal, such as rupture of blood vessels in the brain which can cause death. If an elderly person experiences sleep disorders, it will worsen the underlying disease so that it will have an impact on health. The purpose of this study is the difference in the effectiveness of the Tai Chi method on reducing insomnia and hypertension in the elderly. This type of research is quantitative with a quasi-experimental design. The sample used is the elderly who live in the village of Lau Rakit. The sampling technique used is the Probability Sampling technique. Data were analyzed using Paired T-Test and One Way Anova (<0.05). The results showed that in the insomnia intervention group the p-value was 0.01 and in the hypertension intervention group the p-value was 0.02, which means that the Tai Chi exercise intervention group was effectively used to treat insomnia and hypertension, while in the control group the p-value was 0.16. it means that in the control group there is no effective change. The results of the ANOVA test obtained a p value of 0.04 < 0.05, which means that there is a significant difference between the three groups. It is recommended for the elderly to be able to do Tai Chi exercises regularly to overcome the problems of insomnia and hypertension.
Knee osteoarthritis increases the risk of falls among older adults. Tai Chi (TC) has been increasingly utilized to prevent falls in older adults. However, findings from previous studies are ...inconclusive, possibly due to a lack of scientifically sound methodologies to identify targeted TC forms, which likely maximize the training effects in preventing falls. It has been recently indicated that individual TC forms challenge body balance to varying degrees, providing us a foundation to select optimal TC forms. The objective of this preliminary study was to examine whether the challenge to body balance quantified by the range of dynamic stability is different between identified optimal TC forms (OTC) and commonly used TC (CTC) forms among older adults with knee osteoarthritis.
Eight older adults with knee osteoarthritis learned how to perform 24 TC forms correctly. Their full-body kinematics during the performance of 24 TC forms was collected. The range of composite dynamic stability was used as the selection criteria to identify eight OTC forms. The range of composite dynamic stability was then compared between the OTC forms and eight CTC forms.
Overall, OTC forms showed a significantly larger range of composite dynamic stability than CTC forms (p = 0.021).
The selected OTC forms could impose a greater challenge on balance control among older adults than CTC forms. The finding in this study is significant as it could furnish a scientific basis for identifying the best TC forms to optimize the effectiveness of TC-based fall prevention interventions.
Objectives
To summarize and critically evaluate research on the effects of Tai Chi on cognitive function in older adults.
Design
Systematic review with meta‐analysis.
Setting
Community and ...residential care.
Participants
Individuals aged 60 and older (with the exception of one study) with and without cognitive impairment.
Measurements
Cognitive ability using a variety of neuropsychological testing.
Results
Twenty eligible studies with a total of 2,553 participants were identified that met inclusion criteria for the systematic review; 11 of the 20 eligible studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), one was a prospective nonrandomized controlled study, four were prospective noncontrolled observational studies, and four were cross‐sectional studies. Overall quality of RCTs was modest, with three of 11 trials categorized as high risk of bias. Meta‐analyses of outcomes related to executive function in RCTs of cognitively healthy adults indicated a large effect size when Tai Chi participants were compared with nonintervention controls (Hedges' g = 0.90; P = .04) and a moderate effect size when compared with exercise controls (Hedges' g = 0.51; P = .003). Meta‐analyses of outcomes related to global cognitive function in RCTs of cognitively impaired adults, ranging from mild cognitive impairment to dementia, showed smaller but statistically significant effects when Tai Chi was compared with nonintervention controls (Hedges' g = 0.35; P = .004) and other active interventions (Hedges' g = 0.30; P = .002). Findings from nonrandomized studies add further evidence that Tai Chi may positively affect these and other domains of cognitive function.
Conclusion
Tai Chi shows potential to enhance cognitive function in older adults, particularly in the realm of executive functioning and in individuals without significant impairment. Larger and methodologically sound trials with longer follow‐up periods are needed before more‐definitive conclusions can be drawn.
To summarize and critically evaluate the effects of Tai Chi on lower limb proprioception in adults older than 55.
Seven databases (Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Library, ...Wanfang, CNKI) were searched from inception until April 14, 2018.
Eleven randomized controlled trials were included for meta-analysis.
Two independent reviewers screened potentially relevant studies based on the inclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed methodological quality of the eligible studies using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro).
The pooled effect size (standardized mean difference SMD) was calculated while the random-effects model was selected. Physiotherapy Evidence Database scores ranged from 5 to 8 points (mean=6.7). The study results showed that Tai Chi had significantly positive effects on lower limb joint proprioception. Effect sizes were moderate to large, including ankle plantar flexion (SMD=-0.55; 95% confidence interval 95% CI, -0.9 to -0.2; P=.002; I
=0%; n=162), dorsiflexion (SMD=-0.75; 95% CI, -1.11 to -0.39; P<.001; I
=0%; n=162), nondominant or left knee flexion (SMD=-0.71; 95% CI, -1.10 to -0.41; P<.001; I
=25.1%; n=266), dominant or right knee flexion (SMD=-0.82; 95% CI, -1.06 to -0.58; P<.001; I
=33.8%; n=464).
There is moderate to strong evidence that suggests that Tai Chi is an effective intervention to maintain and improve lower limb proprioception in adults older than 55. More robust multicenter studies including oldest-old participants, with longer follow-ups and validated outcome measures, are needed before a definitive conclusion is drawn.
PDF
