"People in the T'ai Chi group reduced their rate of falls by almost half"
T'ai Chi and Fall Prevention July 1999
Effective Health Care Review (April 1996)
Found that it is difficult to compare fall interventions as a range of
methods are used by researchers to define falls, however this
review did find that people assigned to an exercise group had an
estimated 10% lower risk of falling than controls. Pooling the results
of studies evaluating a balance training only intervention showed a
reduction in risk of falling of 25%. People offered the balancing
exercise, Tai Chi, had a 37% lower risk of falling than the
non-intervention group.
Guidelines for the prevention of falls in older people 1998
commissioned by DOH from Queen Mary and Westfield College
and South East Institute of Public Health.
Recent collaborative search of literature scoring all relevant studies by
the Cochrane collaboration systematic review criteria found that of the
exercise trials selected with older community dwelling adults only
one* reported a reduction in the number of falls. People in the T'ai Chi
group reduced their rate of falls by almost a half.
The Guidelines conclude that with the exception of Tai Chi exercise
other programmes do not prevent falls although they may have other
health benefits.
The Guidelines recommend that (small) Tai Chi classes (enabling
individual instruction) should be offered to unselected older people
living in the community.
*Wolf SL, et al. Reducing Frailty and Falls in Older Persons: An
investigation of Tai Chi and Computerised Balance Training. Journal
of the American Geriatric Society, 1996: 44:489-497) Basically this is saying that T'ai Chi is good for you, so just come along to Killamarsh T'ai Chi and reap the benefits.