A comparison of balance and leg muscle strength between tai chi and yoga in older adults: A cross-sectional study

Background: There is increasing evidence that practicing tai chi or yoga can improve the elderly’s physical performance. This study aimed to compare the effects of tai chi and yoga on balance and leg muscle strength in the elderly. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 90 elderly persons who practice tai chi (n = 36), yoga (n = 23), and a control group (n = 31). The balance function was assessed using the single-leg stance (SLS) test, while leg muscle strength (LMS) was assessed using a leg-back dynamometer. A Chi-square, Spearman rank test, one-way ANOVA with LSD post hoc were applied. The significance was set at p<0.05. Results: One-way ANOVA showed a difference in LMS and SLS between groups (p<0.01). LSD post hoc analysis found the difference in LMS between tai chi and yoga (64.3 vs. 41.5, p<0.01) and tai chi and control (64.3 vs. 30.4, p<0.01). The difference was also found in SLS between tai chi and control (36.7 vs. 6.2, p<0.01) and between yoga and control (41.4 vs. 6.2, p<0.01). Conclusion: Elderly persons who participated in tai chi and yoga demonstrated higher LMS and SLS performance than the sedentary participants. The tai chi group showed better muscle strength than the yoga group.