Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 3, 1995                   TAG: 9505030049
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TAI CHI GETS BLESSING FOR PREVENTION OF FALLS

Jade Daniels has taught the oriental balance exercise tai chi for 18 years in the Roanoke Valley, taking it from New Age centers into the mainstream public recreation departments.

All ages of participants have been attracted to the balletlike movements of this martial art, and now so is the American Medical Association.

In a study released Tuesday, the AMA said excercise, particularly exercise like tai chi that focuses on balance, can reduce the risk of falling for the elderly.

Each year, about 30 percent of people over 65 fall, and 10 percent to 15 percent of them break multiple bones, the AMA said. Reducing the number of falls not only would save elderly people pain, but could be worth billions of dollars of savings in health-care costs.

"It's like cha-CHING," Daniels said after her regular Tuesday tai chi class at Roanoke County's Brambleton Center. "I've seen tai chi go from being labeled an alternative health practice to one that is complementary to medicine."

She teaches day and evening tai chi classes at the center, and also offers one at the Hollins Library.

Tai chi has been practiced for centuries by elders in China for agility, balance and posture control, as well as mind-body interaction.

"It appeals because it helps such a broad base of folks, from those with general maladies to those with arthritis or low back pain or emotional distress," Daniels said.

The exercise requires concentration and attention to breathing as participants go through postures, many of which were drawn from the movements of animals.

"The height and depth of the movement encourages flexibility," Daniels said. "Plus, its intensity can be raised and lowered depending upon how low a participant bends the knees."

These are some of the same reasons researchers at Emory University School of Medicine used tai chi in a study of exercise and the elderly. Emory was one of eight sites that contributed data to the AMA report.

Tai chi can be performed as a group activity, which means it can be practiced in a nursing home setting. It doesn't require technology, and it "emphasizes flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular improvement," the Emory team's report said.

The Atlanta program used tai chi training for a group of elderly who were at least 70 years old, and recorded a 25 percent reduction in falls when compared to a control group that did not exercise.

In the study, eight treatment centers developed programs of exercise for older people and then compared the participants' history of falling with comparable groups of elderly who did no exercise.

The exercises varied from center to center and included weight training, stretching, endurance training and balance training. The programs lasted from 10 weeks to nine months, and the participants were followed for up to four years.

Results of the full AMA study involving 2,328 people over the age of 60 showed that performing regular exercise could reduce the risk of falling by about 13 percent. The results will be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today, which is also the opening of the White House Conference on Aging.

In addition to the debilitation and hastening of death that a fall can cause an elderly person, the treatment of falls is costly, the AMA noted. A federal study estimated that the nation spends about $3.7 billion to treat the elderly for unintentional injuries, mostly from falls.

Also, for some elderly people, the "quality of life changes considerably after hip fractures," said Bertram Spetzler, an orthopedic surgeon with Lewis-Gale Clinic in Salem.

"Part of what I do is counsel patients to do stretching, or any regular exercise," Spetzler said. "Especially, get out and go walking."

The AMA study was "exciting," he said, because it showed that nursing home patients who are put on a regimen of light weight training improve muscle mass.

"It's never too late," Spetzler said.

The Associated Press contributed some information to this story.