Tai Chi: The Ultimate in falls prevention.
Falling head over heels in love is great but that is the only falling you ever want to do!
Falling can lead to terrible trauma, even death. Injuries sustained are often life changing and life limiting. Falls don’t just injure the physical body, they shatter confidence and that leads to activity level reduction (which further increases the risk of future falls) and less quality of life. Falls are awful.
As a physiotherapist I have not only helped many patients rehabilitate from their injuries but have also helped many people avoid falling by implementing falls prevention exercise programs. My professional insight into what a good falls prevention exercise program involves has been shaped by over 30 years of clinical experience, study and research. With this background I can confidently assert that Tai Chi is the ultimate falls prevention exercise. No other form of exercise comes close to it in terms of power in preventing falls.
There are 3 reasons why:
1. Tai Chi works on all the trainable factors that prevent falling at the same time
2. Tai Chi is task specific
3. Tai Chi is accessible
Let’s examine the first factor: Tai Chi works on all the trainable factors that prevent falling at the same time. This is a big claim and takes some explaining, so read on…
If you want to prevent falling you need strong legs and you need lower limb muscle endurance. Tai Chi works the legs continuously without overloading them and straining them. Do Tai Chi for 20 minutes daily for 6 weeks and your legs will be stronger, your leg muscle endurance will increase.
Whilst Tai Chi improves leg strength, it doesn’t just work strength. It also works on muscle control. If you go to the gym, ride a bike or do a strength class and your legs will get very strong which is great but your muscle control (how well you can regulate your muscle contractions and work your muscles synergistically) will not improve. Falls prevention is not just about brute strength it is actually more about knowing how to use and control your muscles and co-ordinate different muscles so that they work together for a combined effect (synergy). Tai Chi is the ultimate muscle control training exercise. You spend an entire Tai Chi class working on control with very deep mindfulness and focus.
If you want to prevent falling you need good balance. Tai Chi is all about balance. A premise of Tai Chi is, “at all times stay vertically upright and stable”. A Tai Chi session involves spending the entire session connecting with and refining your awareness of the key factors that help you keep balance; your base of support, your centre of mass and their relativity. During a Tai Chi class, you slowly and gently control movement of your body over its base of support. You take your balance to one edge of the base and hold it, you then bring it back to the centre then you turn around and move your arms about whilst you take it to the other edge of your base and hold it there. At times you narrow your base down or you vary the size and shape of your base while keeping upright and stable over it. During practice you constantly shift your weight from the left to the right side, from the front to the back, your rise up, you lower down, you can even stand on one leg and squat down all whilst moving your arms gracefully! No other exercise can and does challenge your dynamic balance like Tai Chi does.
The second factor I refer to is specificity. Task specificity is really just common sense. Basically, if you want to get good at something spend a lot of time practicing it. If you are a swimmer you predominantly train by swimming. Yes, you might do weights but if you only train weights and don’t swim much you are not going to be much of a swimmer. On the other hand, if you want to be a good cyclist, don’t spend a lot of time in the pool! The principle of task specificity is a very important principle in physiotherapy and exercise science. If you want to get good at balancing and avoid falling when on your feet, then you guessed it, do an exercise program that involves you standing and doing stuff on your feet. Tai Chi is done moving around dynamically on your feet, on solid ground as you do in everyday life. It is the only form of exercise that does this. (Recall my last point about Tai Chi and how it trains balance). Yoga is ok, but it has many static postures or sitting postures on the ground, Pilates is likewise predominantly on the ground or astride a reformer or other device hooked up to cables and springs ….that is not where or how you spend your time in everyday life, and therefore that is not where you should be training to avoid falling in everyday life. If you really want to prevent falls, work on balance in a task specific way that relates to everyday life. Do an exercise that replicates what you do in everyday life, standing, rising up, lowering down, stepping, moving forward, backward, sideways, turning around, going from one leg to the other and all dynamically. Tai Chi wins the specificity stakes hands down.
The third factor is accessibility. Exercise only works if you are empowered to practice it regularly. To optimise effect you need a form of exercise that is accessible and always available to you. Once you know Tai Chi you can take it with you, anywhere, any place, anytime. You can practice it at home, you can practice it on your holiday. You can practice it in your bedroom, in your loungeroom, in your yard, on your veranda, at the park, at the beach, even at the train station! (Try doing that with a reformer!) Once you know Tai Chi you don’t need the gym to be open, or to have your membership paid up, or your trainer to fit you into their schedule, you don’t need somewhere to put down your yoga mat, you don’t need your tights, lycra or active wear, you don’t actually need any accessories! You just need the piece of ground you are standing on; your body and your Tai Chi know how. Tai chi is the most accessible form of exercise around!
So, if you really want to get serious about reducing your falls risk, or get over any angst from having had a fall in the past get to a Refined Moves Tai Chi class and refine your falls prevention strategies with a Tai Chi teacher who is also a physiotherapist. Book your class now!