Table 1.
Characteristics of randomized controlled trials of Tai Chi for Parkinson's disease.
| First author, year, country | Sample size | Mean age (year) | Hoehn and Yahr stage | Treatment duration (week) | Main outcome assessments |
Experimental group intervention |
Control group intervention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hackney, 2008, US [12] |
33 | 64 | 1.5–3 | 10–13 | UPDRS III, BBS, gait, TUG, six-minute walk | Yang-style Tai Chi (60 min/20 sessions) |
No intervention |
| Hackney, 2009, US [13] |
75 | 67 | 1–3 | 13 | PDQ-39 | Yang-style Tai Chi (60 min/20 sessions) |
(1) Tango (2) Waltz/Foxtrot (3) No intervention (60 min/20 sessions) |
| Li, 2011, China [14] |
56 | 68 | 2.5–3 | 8 | UPDRS III, BBS, PDQ-39 | Tai Chi (30–45 min/80 sessions) |
Walking (40 min/80 sessions) |
| Zhu, 2011, China [15] |
40 | 64 | 1-2 | 4 | UPDRS III, BBS | Tai Chi (30–45 min/40 sessions) |
Walking (40 min/40 sessions) |
| Li, 2012, US [10] |
195 | 69 | 1–4 | 24 | UPDRS III, gait, TUG, functional-reach test | Tai Chi (60 min/48 sessions) |
(1) Stretching (2) Resistance training (60 min/48 sessions) |
| Amano, 2013, US [11] |
45 | 66 | 2-3 | 16 | UPDRS III, gait | Yang-style Tai Chi (60 min/32–48 sessions) |
(1) Qigong (60 min/32 sessions) (2) No intervention |
| Choi, 2013, US [16] |
22 | 63 | 1-2 | 12 | UPDRS, TUG, gait, six-minute walk, one-leg standing | Tai Chi (60 min/36 sessions) |
No intervention |
| Nocera, 2013, US [17] |
23 | 66 | 2-3 | 16 | Cognitive-executive function, PDQ-39 |
Yang-style Tai Chi (60 min/48 sessions) |
No intervention |
| Gao, 2014, China [18] |
80 | 69 | 1–4 | 12 | UPDRS III, BBS, TUG | Yang-style Tai Chi (60 min/36 sessions) |
No intervention |
UPDRS: unified Parkinson's disease rating scale; BBS: berg balance scale; TUG: timed up and go; PDQ-39: Parkinson's disease questionnaire-39.