Effects of Tai Chi on balance and fall prevention in Parkinson’s disease: a randomized controlled trial

To examine the effects of Tai Chi on balance and functional mobility in people with Parkinson's disease, and determine whether fall incidence could be reduced by the Tai Chi exercise.Single blinded randomized control trial with 6 months' follow-up.A hospital and general community.Patients (n=76) diagnosed with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, over 40 years old, able to walk independently and fell at least one time during the past 12 months.The Tai Chi group (n=37) received 24-form Yang style Tai Chi exercise for 60 minutes each time, three times a week and lasted for 12 weeks. The control group (n=39) received no intervention.Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) III, Timed Up&Go (TUG) and occurrences of falls.The Tai Chi group improved more than the control group on the BBS (p<0.05), but there was no difference on UPDRS III scores and Timed Up&Go (p>0.05). During the 6-month follow-up, only 8 (21.6%) out of 37 patients in the Tai Chi group had experience of falls comparing to 19 (48.7%) out of 39 patients in the control group (p<0.05). The average times of falls were 0.30±0.62 in the Tai Chi group compared with 0.64±0.74 in the control group (p<0.05).Our findings suggested that Tai Chi exercise could improve the balance and decrease the fall risks in patients with Parkinson's disease.