• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of Tai Chi exercise, Tai Chi self help program, and self help management program on arthritic pain, stiffness, fatigue and difficulties in performing daily activities in patients with osteoarthritis. Method: The pre-post experimental design was utilized with convenient sampling at Public Health Centers. Total of 38 subjects agreed to participate in the study with the inclusion criteria of being diagnosed as osteoarthritis and no previous regular exercise. The 12 subjects were assigned to Tai Chi exercise group, 13 subjects to Tai Chi exercise combined with self help management program, and the other 13 to self help management program. Tai Chi exercise group performed exercise twice a week for one hour per each session. Tai Chi self help management group came to the class twice a week, one hour for Tai Chi exercise, and another hour for self help management program. The third group came to the class once a week for one hour to participate self help management program. At the completion of 6 week programs, 10 subjects from Tai Chi exercise, 9 from Tai Chi self help, another 10 from self help management groups completed the post-test measures. The data were analyzed by SPSSWIN 11.0. The homogeneity tests for three experimental groups were conducted by $X^2-test$, Fisher's exact test, Kruskal-Wallis test. The final analysis of the post-test measures was conducted by ANCOVA with fatigue, pain, stiffness, and difficulties in daily activities of the pretest measures as covariates. Results: The results were as follows. There were no significant differences in fatigue, pain, and difficulties of daily activities among three groups for the pretest measures. The score of arthritic stiffness was significantly different among groups after controlled for covariates, but the post-hoc tests showed no group differences. Conclusion: The nursing interventions applied for osteoarthritis patients have been previously tested to show the cost effectiveness of symptoms management of this population.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.409-420
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• 2004

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of Tai chi exercise for improving balance and its tendency and helps to identify directions for future research. Method: 19 articles from Medline search of foreign journals(1981-2003) and 5 from Korean nursing journals (1981-2003) were surveyed. The contents analyses were focused on outcome measures and relative factors regarding balance. Result: Variable measures for balance were used in Tai Chi studies relating to balance. They included the functional measures such as 14 single-leg stance, 7 walking in physiological measures and 7 laboratory-based balance measures were done with platform stability test. The measure of effective Tai Chi exercise depended on the health status of subjects and the methods. Health status of subjects were only on physically inactive older adults in 17 articles and arthritis patients in 7 articles in the Tai Chi study. The significant effects of Tai Chi exercise on balance was revealed after 10weeks duration. Conclusion: Considering the results, Tai Chi exercise is more effective than any other studies for walking balance. But the reports on the outcome are inconsistent with wide variations in the choice of balance measures. It is suggested that future studies analyze systemic change through meta analysis and have a wide variety of subjects who need postural control and balance control. The methods of measures should be distinct from the balance state of subjects for the effectiveness of Tai chi exercise.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.620-628
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose was to identify the effects of a Tai Chi exercise program on physical fitness, fall related perception and health status among institutionalized elderly. Methods: A quasi-experimental research was carried out with a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. There were 23 subjects in the experimental group and 24 in the control group. The data was gathered by structured questionnaires about fall related perception, and health status. Physical fitness was measured by an exercise therapist with a blind principle. Results: At the completion of the 12 weeks Tai Chi exercise program, flexibility (F=4.50, p=.00), and ability to balance (F=3.27, p=.00) had increased significantly. Fall related perception showed significant improvement in the fear of falling (F=-3.52, p=.00). Physical functioning (F=3.38, p=.00), role limitation-physical (F=2.67, p=.01), role limitation-emotional (F=2.47, p=.02). and general health (F=3.88, p=.00) in health status showed significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion: The study findings revealed Tai Chi exercise as a useful nursing intervention for elderly that enhances flexibility and balance, decreases fall related perception and also increases the health status. Further research is warranted to compare the potential effects of Tai Chi exercise and its health benefits from other types of exercise or martial arts.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2005

Arthritis is one of the most common chronic degenerative joint disease in elderly. Osteoarthritis is a widespread, slowly developing disease, with a high prevalence increasing with age in women. The large joints mostly involved by the disease are the knees. But there are no treatments available that cure the underlying process of osteoarthritis diseases. Physical exercise helps in increasing cartilage nutrition and remodeling, increases the synovial blood flow, decrease swelling, and improves muscle strength. Thus, exercise has been suggested as an important nursing strategy in osteoarthritis. Purpose: The purpose of this study were to compare muscle strength between Tai-Chi exercise and aquatic exercise for women with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: A quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest measures was used. The study subjects were those who had been enrolled in a community health center, and agreed to participate in the study for eight weeks, signed the consent form, and obtained the physicians approval. The study dropout rates were 13.2% with the final study subjects of 17 on Tai-Chi exercise, 16 on aquatic exercise program. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS for Window (version 12.0). Independent sample t-test and paired t-test was performed to compare of muscle strength for women with osteoarthritis after 8-week Tai-Chi exercise and aquatic Exercise. Results: The homogeneity tests of demographic characteristics and study variables at the pretest data revealed no significant differences between two groups. After 8-week Tai-Chi and aquatic exercise, there was significant result in pre-post test comparison on muscle strength on Tai-Chi group, but no significant in aquatic group. There were no significant differences of knee extensor (p=.078), and hand grip(p=.118) in group comparisons on muscle strengths. But there were significant differences of knee flexor(p=.024). Conclusion: Tai-chi exercise was effective in improving knee flexor. So, it seems that Tai-chi exercise may be more suitable for aquatic exercise in osteoarthritis exercise programs. Further studies with other comparisons in physical and psycho social outcomes are necessary to confirm the more effects of exercise.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.28-39
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• 2002

Objective. The 12 forms of Sun-style Tai Chi exercise has been developed specifically for arthritis patients in order to reduce their symptoms and to improve physical functioning. This quasi-experimental study examined the changes in pain, balance, muscle strength and physical functioning in women with osteoarthritis at the completion of the 12 week Tai Chi exercise program. Methods. The patients with osteoarthritis who signed the consent form were screened by their primary physician according to the inclusion criteria and invited to the study. Total of 66 osteoarthritis women with an average age of 63 years were participated in the Tai Chi exercise. At the completion of 12 weeks, 34 patients completed both pretest and posttest measures with 48% of overall dropout rate. Outcome measures were physical symptoms, balance, muscle strength, physical functioning, and depression. Paired t-test was utilized to examine differences between pre and post-measures. Results. After participating in the Tai Chi exercise program, the women with osteoarthritis showed significant improvements in their physical fitness measures, and consequently in their physical functioning. In physical fitness test, there were significant improvements in balance, flexibility, muscle strengths of knee, grip, and back muscles after the Tai Chi exercise. However, No significant differences were found in pain and stiffness of their knee joints and depression measure. Conclusion. The 12 forms of Tai Chi exercise has been found safely applicable to the older women with osteoarthritis for 12 weeks, and effective in improving balance, flexibility, and muscle strengths, and consequently lessening difficulties of performing their activities of daily life.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.61-73
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 8- week Tai Chi exercise program on improving the risk factors for falls in the older adults with chronic arthritis pain. Method: Fifteen subjects were assigned for experimental group and thirteen were assigned for control group. The subjects of the experimental group participated in a 8 -week program of Tai Chi exercise. In order to evaluate the effects of Tai Chi program, pain intensity, postural stability, balance, gait, and flexibility of knees and ankles were measured before the first and after the 8th session Result: After a 8-week Tai Chi program, there were significant improvement in single-leg stance time with eyes open(left: p=.000, right: p=.003), total scores of balance(p=.004), total scores of gait(p=.005), and the angle of ankle dorsiflexion(p=.008) in the experimental group when compared to the control group. However, there was no significant difference in pain intensity between Tai Chi group and control group(p=.054). Conclusion: These results suggest that a 8-week Tai Chi exercise program can be utilized as a safe and effective nursing program to improve on improving the risk factors for falls in the older adults with osteoarthritis.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.129-135
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was done to examine the effects of Tai Chi exercise program on BMI, positive and negative psychiatric symptoms in patient with schizophrenia. Methods: The participants were patient with schizophrenia in S psychiatric hospital in D city. Twenty five patients were assigned to experimental group, and 26 patients were assigned to control group. Data were collected from May 9, to July 8, 2011. The Tai Chi exercise program was conducted with a duration of 60 minutes, 2 times a week for 8 weeks (a total 8 times). Measures were BMI, positive and negative psychiatric symptoms. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test and t-test with SPSS/WIN 19.0 version. Result: The experimental group received Tai Chi exercise program had a significant changes in BMI, positive and negative psychiatric symptoms. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that Tai Chi exercise program is an effective intervention program to improve the BMI, positive and negative psychiatric symptoms of patients with schizophrenia.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.151-161
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of Tai Chi exercise on loneliness, sleep pattern, and instrumental activities of daily living in elderly women. Methods: A quasi-experimental design, a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest was used. Elderly women who agreed to participated in the study were assigned into an experimental group (n=20) or a control group (n=20). The experimental group participated in Tai Chi exercise program (Sun-style 12 forms) for 50 minutes per session, 2 times a week for 8 weeks. Tai Chi exercise program consisted of 10 minutes for warm-up, 35 minutes for main session, and 5 minutes for cooling down. Study outcomes were measured through study questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, t-test and Mann-Whitney test by SPSS WIN 14.0 program. Results: Compared with the control group, the experimental group showed significant improvement in loneliness (t=-2.733, p=.009), sleep pattern (t=2.552, p=.015), and instrumental activities of daily living (z=-2.171, p=.030). Conclusion: Tai Chi exercise program may be an effective nursing intervention for elderly women.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.5-23
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• 2008

Purpose: This study aims to conduct a systematic review of the physical, psychosocial and physiological effects of Tai Chi exercise in elderly. Method: 37 articles from Medline search of foreign journals (1966-2006) were surveyed by the key words 'Tai Chi', 'Tai-chi program' and 'Tai-chi and elderly' limiting the range to age 65 or older, choosing clinical trial and randomized controlled trial research in English articles. Four articles were excluded due to methodological study, pilot study and review. The research was analyzed according to health status of the subjects, styles and forms of Tai Chi exercises, factors for physical, psychosocial and physiological measures. Result: A short forming Yang style was commonly used in chronic diseases and health for elderly. Variable outcome measures were used in Tai Chi studies relating to balance, muscle strength, walking and mobility, flexibility and cardiorespiratory function in physical measure, quality of life, depression, self-efficacy, health status, cognition and impact questionnaire in psychosocial measure, lipids, insulin resistance and hormone in physiological measure. Conclusion: Tai Chi exercise appears to have physical and psychosocial benefits and also appears to be safe for elderly and chronic diseases. It is suggested that future studies analyze statistical part of systematic reviews through meta analysis.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was attempted to verify the effects of Tai Chi exercise on the depression and self efficacy of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Method: It employed a non-equivalent control group pre- and post-test design. The research instruments used in this study were depression and self efficacy. Thirty-two patients in the experimental group carried out 50 minutes of Tai Chi exercise for 12 weeks, and 29 patients in the control group did not. Before and after the experiment, both groups were tested for depression and self efficacy. Collected data were processed using the SPSS/WIN 10.0 program analyzing by the frequency, percentage, $X^2$- test, and t-test. Results: Depression significantly decreased in the experimental group. However the improvement in self efficacy of the rheumatoid arthritis patients was not statistically significant but slight enhancement was. Conclusion: Tai Chi exercise is an effective nursing intervention that can be used for rheumatoid arthritis patients.