Effectiveness of Tai Chi for health promotion for adults with health conditions: a scoping review of Meta-analyses

Abstract

Purpose

To complete a scoping review of meta-analyses summarizing evidence of the effectiveness of Tai Chi for adults with health conditions.

Materials and Methods

Meta-analyses were retrieved from Medline, Embase, AMED, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, PsychINFO, Web of Science, PubMed Health and the Cochrane Library from database inception to early September 2018. Multistage deduplication and screening processes identified full-length, unique, peer-reviewed meta-analyses. Two people independently appraised 42 meta-analyses based on the GRADE system and organized results into 3 appendices subsequently collated into heterogeneous, statistically significant, and statistically insignificant tables.

Results

“High” and “moderate” quality evidence indicates that Tai Chi can significantly benefit adults with health conditions including cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, depression, heart failure, hypertension, low back pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, Parkinson’s Disease and stroke. Outcomes included significant improvements in activities of daily living, balance, exercise capacity, gait, mastery, mental health, mobility, motor function, participation in daily life, physical function, quality of life, range of motion, and strength; with reductions in blood pressure, body mass index, depression, disability, dyspnea, falls, fatigue, pain, stiffness, and waist circumference.

Conclusions

Healthcare providers now have information to advise clients with health conditions on the effectiveness of Tai Chi for overall health promotion.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• Tai Chi is a form of safe, enjoyable, light-to-moderate aerobic physical activity for adults that is inexpensive to implement in diverse community settings.

• Adults with health conditions require physical activity for prevention of secondary impairments and over-all health promotion.

• This scoping review of meta-analyses elucidates “high” and “moderate” quality evidence of the effectiveness of Tai Chi in improving important outcomes for people with numerous health conditions.

• This information can be useful for healthcare providers who wish to recommend effective community-based physical activity to clients they are serving.

Keywords:

• Tai Ji
• PubMed
• health promotion
• adults
• meta-analysis

Acknowledgements

We thank John Costella, Research Librarian at Western University, who provided expert advice and guidance in planning our comprehensive search strategy and for orienting us to Zotero, the database management system that we used. Secondly, we thank Tianna Deluzio, research assistant, who ably conducted the database searches and downloaded the products of the search into Zotero, under the supervision of John Costella. All six first authors contributed similarly to the work reported here (and therefore are presented in alphabetical order by last name) as part of the degree completion of the MPT Program, under the supervision of Bartlett. Bartlett is a volunteer Continuing-Instructor-in-Training under the supervision of Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism and Professor Emerita at Western University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).