Tai Chi for Balance
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With its integrative approach that strengthens the body while focusing the mind, Tai Chi addresses a range of physical and mental health issues including:
- Bone strength
- Joint stability
- Cardiovascular health
- Immunity
- Emotional well-being
Tai Chi is especially useful for improving balance and preventing falls, a major concern for older adults. Studies have shown Tai Chi to reduce falls in seniors by up to 45%,
Tai Chi for Balance
How Does Tai Chi Help Balance?
Dr. Wayne, who conducts research on balance training, reported that Tai Chi can also improve balance in people with neurological problems. A recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine found the program particularly effective for balance in people with Parkinson’s disease.
Tai Chi helps improve balance because it targets all the physical components needed to stay upright, leg strength, flexibility, range of motion, and reflexes—all of which tend to decline with age. “By far the greatest benefit for older adults is a reduction in falls,” says Dr. Chang, another researcher who has been involved in several studies.
What’s the secret? Tai chi combines the physical components needed to stay upright—leg strength, flexibility, range of motion, and reflexes, all of which tend to decline with age.
What’s more, says Dr. Chang, “the slow, deliberate footwork brings more awareness to the soles of the feet, not only in terms of touch sensitivity of foot to the floor but also in awareness to changes in the ankle angle and weight distribution.”
Tai Chi for Balance
Four Benefits of Tai Chi
Although Tai Chi is slow and gentle and doesn’t leave you breathless, it addresses the key components of fitness:
- Muscle strength
- Flexibility
- Balance
- Aerobic conditioning
1. Muscle strength: Tai Chi can improve both lower-body strength and upper-body strength. When practiced regularly, Tai Chi can be comparable to resistance training and brisk walking.
Although you aren’t working with weights or resistance bands, the unsupported arm exercise involved in Tai Chi strengthens your upper body. Tai Chi strengthens both the lower and upper extremities and the core muscles of the back and abdomen.
2. Flexibility: Tai Chi can boost upper- and lower-body flexibility as well as strength.
3. Balance: Tai chi improves balance and, according to some studies, reduces falls. Proprioception — the ability to sense the position of one’s body in space — declines with age. Tai chi helps train this sense, which is a function of sensory neurons in the inner ear and stretch receptors in the muscles and ligaments. Tai Chi also improves muscle strength and flexibility, which makes it easier to recover from a stumble. Fear of falling can make you more likely to fall; some studies have found that Tai Chi training helps reduce that fear.
4. Aerobic conditioning: Depending on the speed and size of the movements, Tai Chi can provide some aerobic exercise benefits. If your clinician advises a more intense cardio workout with a higher heart rate than Tai Chi can offer, you may need something more aerobic as well.
Three Basic Tai Chi Positions for Beginners
Below are three basic positions with directions of three Tai Chi positions for those who are new to Tai Chi. We recommend that if you struggle with balance you practice with a skilled health care provider before trying at home.
Move 1: Warrior & Scholar
- Put your feet together and relax your hands at your sides.
- Take a breath in while bending your knees and sinking down, left hand flat and right hand balled up in a fist.
- Continuing to inhale, cover your right fist with your left hand and lift.
- Come to a straight-legged stance.
- Exhale, release and sink back down.
Warrior and Scholar – 1
Warrior and Scholar – 2
Move 2: Brush the Knee · Begin this move in a T-stance.
- Lift one hand up, palm facing front.
- The opposite hand is in front of the body, palm facing downward.
- As you bring one foot forward, twist your body at the waist and push your raised hand forward, while putting the opposite hand down.
- To finish, circle your arms back to starting position.
- Exhale on the push with the top hand and inhale on the circle back.
Brush the Knee – 1
Brush the Knee – 2
Brush the Knee – 3
Move 3: Part the Horse Mane
- Bring both hands in one on top of the other with a space in the middle, palms facing each other, as if you’re carrying a ball.
- Shift your weight to whichever foot is on the same side as the top hand. So if your right hand is on top, shift your weight to your right foot.
- Bring the opposite leg in front and as you shift your weight to the front leg, move the bottom hand forward as if you’re throwing a Frisbee. The other hand should come back and down to “rest on a large dog’s head.”
Part the Horse Main -1
Part the Horse Main -2
Who Can Do Tai Chi?
Tai Chi is low impact and puts minimal stress on muscles and joints, making it generally safe for all ages and fitness levels. In fact, because tai chi is a low-impact exercise, it may be especially suitable if you’re an older adult who otherwise may not exercise. You may also find Tai Chi appealing because it’s inexpensive and requires no special equipment. You can do Tai Chi anywhere, including indoors or outside. And you can do tai chi alone or in a group class.
Although Tai Chi is generally safe, women who are pregnant or people with joint problems, back pain, fractures, severe osteoporosis, or a hernia should consult their health care provider before trying Tai Chi. Modification or avoidance of certain postures may be recommended.
Tai Chi vs. Yoga
The word Yoga means “to join or yoke together,” and it brings the body and mind together into one harmonious experience, according to the American Yoga Association. Yoga is believed to have developed over 5,000 years ago in India and is considered to be more of a lifestyle than just an exercise.
The practice involves holding poses, stretching, and breathing techniques. Similar to Tai Chi, it has three main components: exercise, meditation, and breathing. The five main benefits of yoga are:
- lessening chronic pain such as arthritis and back pain
- lowers blood pressure
- helps with weight reduction
- reduces insomnia
- increases flexibility
Like Tai Chi, Yoga also helps with improving muscle tone and strength, as well as with respiration and cardio health, according to the American Osteopathic Association.
Once Tai Chi and Yoga are broken down individually, it’s safe to say, they’re almost identical in benefits and components. The main difference is in execution. Yoga involves holding poses and postures. Tai Chi is performed in a dance-like, martial arts form. Both can be rigorous, or low impact, depending on the person’s fitness level. As for whether one form of exercise helps you live longer than the other, that’s still being explored and cannot be answered scientifically. For now, given the similarities, it’s likely either exercise will at the very least make you feel healthier in mind and body. You just have to decide whether you prefer a martial arts style or holding poses.
Why Is It Important to Work On Balance?
Balance reactions become slower with age. But they can be improved with balance training such as Tai Chi. It is important to work on improving balance to decrease the risk of falls.
Bone also becomes less dense with age. Combined with slower balance reactions, this can lead to major injuries if there is a fall. 80% of hip fractures occur in people over the age of 65. Some studies suggest that up to 1 in 6 people with a hip fracture pass away from complications. This makes maintaining balance a vital part of wellness and prevention in healthcare.
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