Effects of therapeutic Tai chi on functional fitness and activities of daily living in patients with Parkinson disease.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of therapeutic Tai chi (TTC) on the functional fitness status and activities of daily living (ADL) of patients with Parkinson disease (PD). The participants were clinically stable PDs in Hoehn and Yahr stage 1-2. These patients were randomly assigned to either the TTC group (n=11) or the control (CON) group (n=9). The TTC exercised at the clinic 2 times a week and performed home-based activity 1 time per week for 12 weeks. All the PDs were evaluated for functional fitness test and ADL screen before and after the 12-week trial. There was a significant Time × group interaction effect on the arm curl (P<0.01), functional reach (P<0.05), and stand on foot with eyes opened (P<0.05) of the functional fitness as compared to the CON. The results of the functional reach test in the CON worsened significantly during the 12-week intervention in comparison with those of the TTC (P<0.01). Also ADL showed significant changed in TCC (P<0.05). Tai chi training showed good effects on the functional fitness in PDs. This study suggests that further research into the based such as Tai chi intervention must be developed PD's quality of life in the future.