Tai Chi versus brisk walking in elderly women

Purpose: to compare the effects of a short style of Tai Chi versus brisk walking training programme on aerobic capacity, heart rate variability ( HRV), strength, flexibility, balance, psychological status and quality of life in elderly women. Methods: nineteen community-dwelling, sedentary women (aged 71.4 +/- 4.5 years) were randomly assigned to Tai Chi Chuan (TCC; n = 11) or brisk walking group ( BWG; n = 8). A separate group of elderly women was recruited from the same population to act as a sedentary comparison group ( SCG; n = 8). The exercise groups met for 1 h, three days per week for 12 weeks. Outcomes measured before and after training included estimated VO2 max, spectral analysis of HRV (high-frequency, low-frequency power as well as high- and low- frequency power in normalised units) as a measure of autonomic control of the heart, isometric knee extension and handgrip muscle strength, single- leg stance time, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Profile of Mood States (POMS) and Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaires. Results: significant improvement was seen in estimated VO2max in the TCC group ( TCC versus SCG P = 0.003, TCC versus BWG P = 0.08). The mean within-person change of high- frequency power in normalised units (HFnu) increased [8.2 (0.14 - 16.3)], representing increased parasympathetic activity, and low- frequency power in normalised units (LFnu) decreased [ - 8.7 ( - 16.8 - 0.5)], representing decreased sympathetic activity, in the TCC group only. Significant gains were also seen in the non- dominant knee extensor strength and single- leg stance time ( TCC versus BWG P < 0.05). Conclusions: a short style of TCC was found to be an effective way to improve many fitness measures in elderly women over a 3-month period. TCC was also found to be significantly better than brisk walking in enhancing certain measures of fitness including lower extremity strength, balance and flexibility.