PURPOSE: The aim was to assess the effects of a Tai Chi-based program on health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in people with elevated blood glucose or diabetes who were not on medication for glucose control. METHOD: 41 participants were randomly allocated to either a Tai Chi intervention group (n = 20) or a usual medical-care control group (n = 21). The Tai Chi group involved 3 x 1.5 h supervised and group-based training sessions per week for 12 weeks. Indicators of HR-QOL were assessed by self-report survey immediately prior to and after the intervention. RESULTS: There were significant improvements in favor of the Tai Chi group for the SF36 subscales of physical functioning (mean difference 5.46, 95% CI 1.35 to 9.57, p < 0.05), role physical (mean difference 18.60, 95% CI 2.16 to 35.05, p < 0.05), bodily pain (mean difference 9.88, 95% CI 2.06 to 17.69, p < 0.05) and vitality (mean difference 9.96, 95% CI 0.77 to 19.15, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that this Tai Chi program improved indicators of HR-QOL including physical functioning, role physical, bodily pain and vitality in people with elevated blood glucose or diabetes who were not on diabetes medication.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• DOI
• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher