A Study on Effects of Tai-Chi Exercise Program on Pain, Flexibility, Perceived Health Status and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living for Osteoarthritis Patients

태극권이 골관절염 환자의 통증, 유연성, 지각된 건강 상태 및 일상생활활동능력에 미치는 효과

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine effect of Tai-Chi exercise program on pain, flexibility, perceived health status and instrumental activities of daily living for osteoarthritis patients. To evaluate the effects, quasi-experimental study was used for pre and post test with a nonequivalent control group. Method: Fifty-two subjects participated in the experiment(twenty-seven for experimental group and twenty-five for control group) and they were from two different senior citizen centers in J city. The experiment period was from April 2002 through August 2002. The experiment group took part in Tai-Chi exercise program for eighteen weeks(three times a week for four weeks and five times a week for fourteen week). The exercise was performed for 50 minutes at every time (15 minutes for warm-up, 30 minutes for Tai-Chi exercise, and 5 minutes for ending). In order to pursue study purpose, the SPSS/WIN 8.0 program was chosen for the statistical analysis; ANCOVA was employed in examining test hypothesis; t-test and $X^{2}-test$ were used to examine homogeneity between experimental and control group. Result: The study results were as follows: Score of pain decreased significantly after of Tai-Chi exercise program. Score of flexibility increased significantly after of Tai-Chi exercise program. Score of perceived health status increased significantly after of Tai-Chi exercise program. Score of IADL increased significantly after of Tai-Chi exercise program. Conclusion: As shown in the results, Tai-Chi exercise program can be effective nursing intervention for osteoarthritis patient to improve pain, flexibility, perceived health status and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living.