• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of the Tai Chi self-help program with a self-help program on pain, stiffness, physical functioning, and fear of falling in women with osteoarthritis. Method: Total of 82 women with Osteoarthritis recruited from outpatient clinics or community health centers were randomly assigned either to a Tai Chi self-help group or a self-help group. Thirty subjects in the Tai Chi self-help group and 39 in the self-help group completed posttest measures(pain, stiffness, physical functioning, and fear of falling) at 6 months. Results: After the 6 month study period, the subjects in the Tai Chi self-help group reported significantly less difficulties in performing daily activities(mean difference=-0.16 vs. 6.19 for the self-help), and less fear of falling(mean difference=-3.20 vs. 0.27 for the self-help) than those in the self-help group. There were no significantly differences in pain and stiffness between the groups. Conclusion: The Tai Chi combined with self-help program was more effective than the self-help only program in reducing difficulties in performing daily activities and fear of falling in women with Osteoarthritis. Whether these changes prevent fall episodes requires further study.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was to determine whether the Sun-style 24 forms of Tai Chi exercise improve pain, stiffness, disability, knee joint motion, mobility, balance or falling. Method: Forty-six community-dwelling elderly subjects (mean age, $75.46{\pm}6.28$) voluntarily participated in an intervention group of either 24 forms of Sun-style T ai Chi for 60 min, 2 times per week for 12 weeks or a control group. A non-equivalent pretest-posttest design was used. Independent t-test and ANCOVA were used to examine group differences by using SPSS12.0. Result: The experimental group had significantly less pain (F=7.60, p=.008) and stiffness (t=-3.19, p=.003) than the control group. Also there were significant improvements in knee joint motion on the right knee (t=2.44, p=.019), left knee (t=2.30, p=.026), rising time (F=8.03, p=.07), balance on the left single leg test (t=2.20, p=.033), and fear of falling (t=-2.33, p=.024) in the Tai Chi exercise group. No significant group differences were found in disability and falls efficacy. Conclusion: The Sun-style 24 forms Tai Chi exercise is effective in decreasing pain, stiffness, fear of falling and it improves balance, rising time, and knee joint motion. We suggest a continuing long term intervention to decrease disability and increase efficacy concerning falls.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.345-349
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• 2010

Good health-related quality of life is regarded as the goal of elderly residential care. Treatment for breast cancer produces side effects that diminish functional capacity and quality of life among survivors. Tai-Chi exercise offers the benefits of fitness and health. Tai-chi has been claimed to generate beneficial effects with respect to a wide range of diseases. The object of this research is to evaluate the effects of tai chi exercise on shoulder joint movement and cardiovascular function in elderly breast cancer patients. The subjects were 40 patients residing in B metropolitan city, who had undergone surgery for breast cancer within 2 months. They underwent post-operative radiotherapy and an anti-cancer chemical treatment. They practiced tai-chi exercise for 60 min a day, four times a week for 12 weeks under the direction of a special tai-chi instructor. Shoulder joint movement and heart rate, were measured before and after the experiment. The results were as follows; Shoulder joint movement, including flexion, extention, adduction and abduction, significantly increased (p<0.05) after treatment, and heart rates significantly decreased after treatment (p<0.05). From the results, Tai-Chi exercise was shown to be extremely effective in improving shoulder joint movement and heart rate in elderly breast cancer patients. Further study is needed in this area.

• 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.15 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of Tai Chi exercise program on pain, fatigue, depression, self-efficacy, and quality of life in elderly women. Method: A quasi-experimental design, a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest was the method of this study. Elderly women who agreed to participate in the study were conveniently placed into an experimental group (n=33) or an control group (n=34). The experimental group participated in Tai Chi exercise program, which was held for 60 minutes per session and 3 times a week for 8 weeks. Tai Chi exercise program consisted of a 10 minute warm-up, a 45 minute main session, and a 5 minute cooling down. In order to evaluate the effects of Tai Chi exercise program, pain, fatigue, depression, self-efficacy, and quality of life were measured with a questionnaire. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, t- test, and ANCOVA by SPSS WIN 13.0 program. Results: Compared with the control group, the experimental group reported higher level of quality of life (F=7.67, p=.007) and self-efficacy (F=20.9, p=.000) and lower level of pain (F=10.93, p= .002), fatigue (F=6.28, p=.015), and depression (F=10.02, p=.002). Conclusions: This study suggests that Tai Chi exercise program may be one of the effective nursing interventions for elderly women.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.71-83
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the effects of Tai Chi Self-help program for Hemophilic Arthritis Patients. Method: A quasi-experimental design was used. The subjects were 48 patients who underwent orthopedic surgery (24 experimental group, 24 control group). The subjects of experimental group were participated in the Tai Chi self-help group program in which 16 times for 8 weeks. The program consisted of health education on hemophilia, Tai Chi exercise, and workshop and its outcomes have been evaluated on WOMAC(Western Ontario and McMaster scale), mobility, pain, fatigue, muscle strength, depression, and quality of life(SF-36). The obtained data were analyzed by using the t-test or Fisher's exact test of PASW 18.0. Results: 1) The score of WOMAC, pain, fatigue, and depression decreased significantly in the experimental group as compared to the control group. 2) The score of mobility, muscle strength, and quality of life increased significantly in the experimental group as compared to the control group. Conclusion: Considering these research results, the program could be useful to improve joint movement, strength and psychological condition for patient with hemophilic arthritis, particularly in those who underwent orthopedic surgery.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.10-19
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a protocol of cryotherapy and Tai Chi on women with Fibrolmyalgia Syndrome. Methods: The study design was a pretest and posttest quasi-experimental, nonrandom assignment. The subjects were 48 outpatients with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia based on the American College of Rheumatology Standards. The setting was a University Medical Center in S city. The protocol was self administered ten times a week, for a two week period resulting in twenty treatments. Results: A protocol of cryotherapy and Tai Chi self-help program showed significant improvement in the fibromyalgia impact as measured by reports of physical impairment, feeing good, number of missed work days, ability to perform work, reports of pain, fatigue, rest, stiffness, anxiety and depression as reported by the comparison group (p<.001). No significant differences between the two regarding in reports of the tender points (p=.062). Conclusion: The results suggested that a protocol of cryotherapy and Tai Chi self-help program may be a promising multidisciplinary strategy for fibromyalgia patients.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.152-160
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the effects of the Tai Chi exercise on metabolic syndrome and health-related quality of life in middle-aged women. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was used. Subjects were sixty middle-aged women with metabolic syndrome. All of the subjects were met the criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III). The subjects were divided into the experiment group (n=33) trained the Tai Chi for 12 weeks and the control group (n=27). Metabolic syndrome risk factors including blood pressure, waist circumference, glucose, triglyceride (TG), and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured before and after the 12-week period. Euro Quality of Life Questionnaire 5-Dimensional Classification (EQ-5D) was used to evaluate the health-related quality of life. Results: The experiment group showed significant decreases in diastolic blood pressure, waist circumference, glucose, and TG; and increase in HDL-C compared to the control group. For the health-related quality of life evaluation, the experiment group showed significant improvement more than the control group. Conclusion: The Tai Chi exercise may be effective intervention in preventing cardiovascular disease caused by metabolic syndrome in middle-aged women.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.278-285
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was performed to verify the effect of Tai Chi exercise on patients with rheumatoid arthritis particularly their level of pain, fatigue, sense of balance and daily lift performance(ADL). Method: It employed a non-equivalent control group pre- and post-test design. The research instruments used in this study were pain, fatigue, sense of balance and ADL. 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 pain, fatigue, sense of balance and ADL. Collected data were processed using the SPSS/WIN 10.0 program analyzed by the frequency, percentage, $x^2-test$, and t-test. Results: Pain and fatigue significantly decreased in the experimental group. However the improvement in ADL of the rheumatoid arthritis patients was not statistically significant but their sense of balance was enhanced significantly. Conclusion: Tai Chi exercise is an effective nursing intervention that can be used for rheumatoid arthritis patients.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.933-937
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of Pilates and Tai Chi as physical therapy interventions for pain and dysfunction in chronic lumbago patients. A total of 31 females who were at least 20 years old and diagnosed with chronic lumbago were divided into a Pilates group(PG) (n=10), Tai Chi group(TCG)(n=11), and conservative group(CG)(n=10), to measure their pain and dysfunction before and after a six week intervention. With regard to the changes in the lumbago consciousness scale before and after the six-week intervention, all three groups showed statistical significance(p<.05). The intergroup differences were significant between the PG and CG and between the TCG and CG. All three groups also showed statistical significance(p<.05) in the Oswestry Disability Index before and after the six-week intervention. Again, the intergroup differences were significant between the PG and CG and between the TCG and CG. Based on these results, the application of Pilates and Tai Chi with conservative treatment may be effective in reducing pain and improving dysfunction in chronic lumbago patients.