The Advantages of Physical Activity for Tai Chi Older Adults and for Elderly Women - Research Paper Example

Introduction Fitness programs devised for the elderly of age 60 and above may foster a personal awareness and recognition of physical fitness in adult life. The elderly carry to physical fitness courses age-related problems such as sluggish reactions, sensory impairment, strength and stamina decline, higher prevalence of chronic illnesses and other health conditions, use of different medications, socialization dilemmas, and loss of confidence brought about by retirement that physical fitness instructors may not have to take into account when planning for younger members (Wankel, 1994). Practitioners should recognize and address these distinctive attributes at each phase of the planning of leisure program. Tai chi, an ancient type of fitness exercise in China, enables its members an array of physical and psychological gains. Researches have publicized that individuals participating in Tai Chi develop their cardiovascular endurance, balance and flexibility, while reducing stress, depression and fear. Tai chi is specifically appropriate for elderly people of 60 years of age and above, who are frequently at risk for a range of health conditions related with aging, such as neurological dysfunction, arthritis, and overall weakening of balance, flexibility and locomotors function (Metzger & Zhou, 1996). Furthermore, at least 30 percent of elderly people fall yearly, leading to severe injuries that may result into both financial and health problems. The self-paced, relaxing, casual nature and the efficiency of time and space, and gear of Tai Chi provide a valuable, functional substitute fitness exercise for the elderly. It as well serves to lessen the occurrence of falling injuries and gives other advantages related to general wellbeing, efficient movement, endurance, and finance (McClung, 1999, 687). A. Statement of the Problem This study will attempt to determine the style and outcome of fitness exercise, Tai chi practice or preferred locomotors exercises such as walking and jogging that will be more effective in enhancing the balance and flexibility of elderly people, specifically elderly women of 60 years of age and above. Furthermore, the researcher will attempt to identify and address the distinctive nature of each of the phase of Tai chi program planning, namely, marketing, personnel selection, learning strategies, motivational schemes, and assessment. This is important to explore given the abundance of studies confirming that Tai chi is indeed a good fitness exercise for the improvement of balance, flexibility and coordination among senior adults. B. Purpose and Significance of the Research Research transforms into effective community practice to recover elder health condition is not simple to transform research into evidence-based practice, and a treatment or therapy that is successful in the germ-free research laboratory is not at all times successful in the actual world. Researchers all over the world should be motivated not merely to find out new therapies but as well to guarantee their therapies are planned to be applied effectively in a range of community settings. The advantages of exercise in seniors will be explored to determine if it will affect aging processes and fragility. It is well proven that functional dependence and impairment intensifies with age, but the question is what if any will the function of fitness exercise such as Tai chi serve in affecting these. The effect of this weakening in both muscle strength and endurance is well documented and are regarded primary contributing factors to the debilitation of functional movement and self-autonomy in multitudes of older adults. This dissertation will put emphasis on the strong points and gains of physical fitness activities, specifically Tai chi among the elderly population and the effect it can have on the alleviating of balance and flexibility decline in the aging process. Chapter II Review of Related Literature Throughout the Western world, activities that unite the body and the mind are well-liked by older adults, who perceived them as a means to help sustain their self-autonomy and improve their quality of life. Tai Chi Chuan provides physical and psychological benefits. This chapter will review findings of previous researches on the effectiveness of Tai Chi in improving the balance and flexibility of the elderly. Moreover, this section will provide some useful information and insight on the various age-related issues such as the rate in which old adults of 60 years of age and above lose balance and flexibility, some statistics of injuries that the elderly have because of loss of balance and flexibility, and the difference between elderly women and men when it comes to physical strength and endurance. Furthermore, this section will discuss valuable information regarding activities that stimulate the body and the mind of the elderly. The information and insights discussed here can be incorporated into a present program or can be independent. A. Balance Control and Flexibility among the Older Adults Primarily, when older adults lose their capability to be independent and do things on their own, it does not occur merely for the reason that they have aged. More probably, it is for the reason that they have become immobile. Older immobile adults lose control in four grounds that are essential for maintaining a healthy and independent lifestyle: strength, stamina or endurance, balance and flexibility (Lan et al., 1998). Luckily, research proposes that people can sustain or at least partly rejuvenate these four grounds through fitness exercise, or through daily physical activities such as walking fast or doing taxing household chores, that achieve a number of the same objectives as exercise. What may appear like particularly small changes due to work out and physical activity can have a tremendous effect (Lan et al., 1998). Older adults may be hesitant to begin exercising, although they have been informed that it is one of the most vigorous and healthiest activities they can do. Older adults may be anxious that exercise or physical activity will injure or harm them; or they might assume that they have to enroll in a gym class or buy pricey fitness equipment in order to carry out fitness exercise. Or, they may feel discomfited to exercise for the reason that they think it is for younger individuals or for people who look pleasant in gym clothes. Older adults may assume exercise is exclusively for individuals who are capable to carry out activities such as jogging (Schilke, 1991). Actually, approximately every elder can carefully and safely perform a number of physical activity at negligible or no cost. And they do not have to work out in a gym or any public place or use pricey fitness equipment, if they do not want to (Schilke, 1991). Household chores can even boost health. The solution is for the older adults to boost their physical activity through exercising and through making use of their own muscle strength (Wankel, 1994). Researches demonstrate that, permanently, older adults in every age bracket damage their health even more by refusing to exercise than doing exercises. As a principle, older adults should maintain physical activity as much as they can (Scott, 1990). Most people are aware that exercise is healthy and good for them. One way or another, however, older adults have been excluded from the bigger picture, until currently. At present a new picture is surfacing from studies: Older adults of various physical conditions have a great deal to benefit from exercise and from maintaining vigorous physical activity. They as well have a great deal to lose if they merely become physically lethargic and inactive. Exercise is not exclusive for the elderly in the younger age bracket, who live all by themselves and are capable to go on fast jogs. Researchers have discovered that fitness exercise and physical activity as well can enhance the health of older adults who are 90 years of age and above, or who have the ailments and impairments that appear to go together with aging. Staying physically vigorous and exercising daily or regularly can help avoid or postpone a number of illnesses and impairments as people age. In a number of instances, it can boost health for older adults who previously have illnesses and impairments, if it is carried out permanently, on a regular basis (Sandlund & Norlander, 2000). B. Effects of Loss of Balance and Flexibility among Older Adults Accidental falls are a risk to the lives, self-autonomy and general wellbeing of older adults ages 60 and above. Every 18 seconds, an older adult is treated in an emergency department for a fall, and every 35 minutes someone in this population dies as a result of their injuries (CDC, 2006, para 2). In the United States, a significant proportion of adults aged 65 and above fall annually (Hausdorff et al., 2001). Falls are the primary cause of deaths from injury among older adults. They are as well the leading cause of injuries that are nonfatal and hospital confinements for trauma. In 2005, 15, 800 people 65 and older died from injuries related to unintentional falls; about 1.8 million people 65 and older were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries from falls, and more than 433,000 of these patients were hospitalized (CDC, 2008, para 3). The incidences of fall-related fatalities among older adults increased drastically over the recent decade (Steven, 2006). Approximately twenty to thirty percent of individuals who fall endure average to critical injuries such as abrasions, hip fractures, or worst head traumas. These injuries can create difficulties in getting around and living independently. They as well can enhance the threat of early death (McClung, 1999). Falls are considered the most prevalent cause of brain injuries or head traumas, or also called TBI (Jager et al., 2000). TBI accounted for nearly half of the fatal falls among the elderly in 2000 (Stevens et al., 2006). Most injuries among the elderly are caused by falls. The most widespread injuries are of the hip, spine, leg, pelvis, ankle and hand (Scott, 1990). Several people who experienced a fall, even those who did not have any injury, develop an anxiety of falling. This anxiety may prompt them to restrict their activities, resulting into a diminished mobility and physical vigor, and enhancing their actual threat of falling (Stevens, 2006). Men are more prone of fatality from a fall. After controlling for age, the rate of fall fatality in 2004 was almost 50% higher for men than for women (CDC, 2005). Women are more prone to have a nonfatal injury from a fall than men. Rates of fractures from falls among the elderly are more than double for women than for men (Stevens et al., 2005). Approximately 72% of the elderly confined to the hospital for hip fractures in 2003 were women (CDC, 2005, para 5). The threat of being severely injured in a fall amplifies with age. The rates of injuries from a fall for older adults aged 85 and above were at least four times that of older adults aged 65 and above in 2001 (Stevens et al., 2006, 55 ). Almost 85% of fatalities from falls were among older adults aged 75 and above in 2004 (CDC, 2006, para 4). White men were discovered to have the highest fatality rates after the age of 75, followed by their white women counterpart, African American men and women (CDC, 2006). White women have considerably higher incidences of fall-related hip fractures than African American women (Stevens 2005). Previous researches have demonstrated that the aging process is related with adjustments in balance condition and flexibility. Examining these motor functions may be valuable in determining conditions with the possible threat of falling. Such circumstances are a critical public health concern, due to their rate of recurrence and the physical, mental and social implications that they may bring about (Kannus et al., 1999). Postural control has been described as the “set of processes through which the central nervous system generates patterns of muscular activity needed for regulating the relationships between the center of the body mass and its support base” (Durward et al., 1999, 220). Postural balance is associated to manipulating the links between gravitational forces acting upon the body, and internal factors that are generated by the body. It is apparent in available literature that older adult reveal reduced postural control capabilities. Nevertheless, the explanations for this decrease in their capabilities have not been entirely elaborated (Durward et al., 1999). Balance and flexibility is an exceptionally complex motor capability composed of a series of recurring movements of the lower limbs that produce body movements. The adjustments to the balance condition and flexibility among elderly individuals have not been entirely explained, but several researches on this area have been publicized. One of the most well documented findings from these researches is that older adults walk more sluggishly than younger adults do. This observable fact has been understood by a number of scholars as a compensatory technique to guarantee stability (Downing, 1998). Meanwhile, this adjustment has been related with structural modifications to the locomotors system, such as decreases in muscle vigor, which are regarded to be particular changes brought about by aging. In addition to decreases in this element, kinetic and kinematic adjustments that affect balance condition have been located in available literature (Jin, 1992). C. Balance Condition and Flexibility of Elderly Women Durward and colleagues (1999) propose that risk factors associated to falls be evaluated in elderly women for bone-density examination by general practitioners to explain hip fracture risk more accurately. This added recognition of patients at great threat of hip fractures allows intended patient management to present techniques to reduce the threat of falls, even in elderly women with better hip-bone density. As the population of white elderly women grows, the figures of injuries from a fall and resulting fatalities are most probable to increase. Both the occurrence of falls and seriousness of complications develop with age. Injury is considered one of the leading causes of death in elderly individuals, and most of these deadly injuries are associated to falls. Fall incidences in the United States, taking place mainly among older adults, were the second primary cause of fatalities because of accidental injuries in 1994 (Stevens et al., 2006, 292). M.R. McClung (1999) made public that current information and data show that bone mass density (BMD) is not the single identifier of fracture threat. He argued that therapy-linked restraint of bone turnover, balance, strength, the probability of fall incidences and injuries, and bone quality may be causal forces in the body’s reaction to drug treatment for osteoporosis. He explained the current study being carried out on the use of raloxifene as an effectual medication in lessening fractures connected to osteoporosis. Kannus and colleagues (1999) maintained that regular fitness exercise is perhaps the single method that may put off osteoporotic fractures, through avoiding both osteoporosis and incidences of fall. Human and animal researches alike have demonstrated that physical activity can boost bone mass, density and strength. The age to begin exercising is crucial, since the gain to bone is doubled if regular fitness exercise is started prior or during puberty. However, the bone strengthening function of exercise throughout adulthood can facilitate the preservation of bone strength and avoid osteoporotic fractures. The available literature indicates that effective exercise can best enhance bone strength. In older adult women, climbing up and down a stairs repeatedly, fast walking, dancing, Tai Chi, and elderly gymnastics are suitable (Scott, 1990). D. Tai Chi: Improving Balance and Flexibility among Elderly Women Practice exclusively in China before, tai chi has been known to be one of the best forms of exercise at present. An intersection between yoga and meditation, tai chi is comprised of a sequence of movements and exercises in breathing intended to boost strength, restore good postural control and increase flexibility while guiding an individual reach a heightened sense of the self (Metzger & Zhou, 1996). Elderly women may want to consider enrolling in a Tai chi program after reading the findings of a current research, which proposes that Tai Chi training is one of the most effective techniques for preventing incidences of fall among older adult women in their 60s and 70s. Tai chi, which integrates movements encouraged by martial arts, can be of assistance to people in this age bracket maintain and enhance their balance control, hence making them less prone to incidences of harmful falls, according to the research released in April 2004 copy of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. This contributes to previous studies indicating that Tai Chi enhances balance among the younger generation as well (JOPERD, 2004). The research enlisted 48 individuals, with ages 69 and above, in a Tai Chi program. None of them had tried or had experienced Tai Chi, even though each was successful in living independently and without the help of walking equipment. Fraction of the group enlisted in a Tau Chi intervention course, while a control group willingly went through a health awareness course. A third group of professional Tai Chi practitioners also participated for evaluations at the conclusion of the research (JOPERD, 2004). After week four and week eight of training, researchers measured individual balance by having individuals stand on a support platform in a safety harness to prevent falling, while researchers assessed their ability to control body sway under different sensory conditions and their ability to shift their weight in different directions while maintaining balance and position stability (JOPERD, 2004, 5). The findings revealed that the Tai Chi exercise group considerably performed better than the control group throughout the balance tests. Moreover, the Tai Chi novices had comparable balance control as compare to the knowledgeable practitioners, indicating that a month of Tai Chi training was adequate to radically improve balance condition and flexibility among participants (JOPERD, 2004). Another study revealed that a Tai Chi exercise group showed an overall augmented time on sustaining balance and a moderately reduced rate of recurrence of losing balance, demonstrating better outcomes that did their locomotors movement counterparts over the examination sessions. They as well showed considerable improvements in efficiency of arm movements from the diagnostic to the post-examination, with no quantifiable dissimilarity in arm movement speed (JOPERD, 2004). The locomotors group demonstrated no substantial development in arm movement velocity or efficiency (JOPERD, 2004). This research suggests that older adults, particularly elderly women, may accumulate greater gains in the area of coarse and fine motor coordination through participating in Tai Chi exercise program in contrary to brisk walking or jogging. Tai Chi improves older adults’ capabilities to make use of sensory response in balance control through facilitating them to train gradually and intentionally, concentrate on movement sensations that intrinsically incorporate body coordination, flexibility and energetic balance, and cultivate a sense of leisure and relaxation during the fitness exercise session, all of which are significant to their developmental requirements. Chapter III Methodology The researcher will use secondary data analysis for this study. In research, secondary data analysis is gathering and perhaps processing information or data by individuals other than the actual researcher. Common sources for this study will be findings from previous researches, surveys, and a number of organizational documents. The researcher chose this qualitative method of research because it is inexpensive and saves time than conducting original research. The researcher can as well benefit from the findings of previous researches on the field from some of the brilliant scholars, which primarily guarantees quality information or data. Moreover, how much the researcher make use of previously gathered information or data is flexible, which means the researcher can merely draw on or include a few statistics from a data, or the researcher could use the information in a secondary role in the study, or even in a fundamental role. And lastly, a set of databases or archives in which survey documents are gathered and disseminated is readily accessible, making secondary analysis in research quite easy (Merchant, 2001). However, there are some disadvantages of secondary analysis method in research and these limitations will be addressed by the researcher thoroughly. Since numerous surveys cater to the national population, if the researcher is interested in studying a minority subgroup such as elderly women, the researcher will have a hard time locating relevant information or data. Moreover, secondary analysis can be employed in negligent ways. If variables or factors are not precisely what the researcher is looking for, information or data can be manipulated and adjusted to suit the objectives of the research which consequently could lessen the reliability and validity of the actual research (Merchant, 2001). Chapter IV Discussion Tai Chi Chuan practice nurtures the Chi. The term Chi means ‘air’ or life-energy’ whereas Chuan means ‘fist’ which is a symbol for action. Hence, there is energy and power for the discipline or control of one’s movements and actions. A beginner has the tendency to make use of more muscular power and physical movement, yet with progress in practice, older adult students will become more conscious of the delicate internal energy or Chi (Lan et al., 1998, 345). Tai Chi is for improving general wellbeing and health by preventing illnesses as well as maintaining fitness. This rhythmic exercise, synchronized with breathing, rejuvenates the body and by turning the consciousness inward, this meditative mode can harmonize the body and the mind. Tai Chi can help develop balance condition, postural control, muscle strength, flexibility, and consciousness of the breath and focus (Kutner et al., 1997). Emory University’s School of Medicine has carried out research on Tai Chi with more than a hundred older adults. The participants were aged 70 and above and were enlisted into either a Tai Chi program, an exercise training class, or individualized exercise control training. At the conclusion of the four-month program, they were given a debriefing in which they responded to questions regarding their assumed benefits of involvement. The Tai Chi as well as the balance-training participants admitted self-assurance in movement and balance, but merely the Tai Chi participants admitted an adjustment in their everyday activities and exercise habits into which they integrated continuing Tai Chi exercise (Kutner et al., 1997,243). The following four fundamental philosophies of Tai Chi should be integrated into the practice and can be suitable to elderly women (Birkel, 1998, 24): a) Relaxation. Use the body in the most efficient manner, applying just enough strength to do a certain movement or task without straining or tensing muscles unnecessarily. b) Turning the Waist. This connects the upper body with the lower body and, in doing so, mobilizes the entire body. It also enables the practitioner to maintain internal strength by stimulating and massaging the internal organs with every movement. c) Keeping the Back Erect. This maintains balance and stability. It enables one to be comfortable, alert, well-balanced, and ready to respond in any direction. An erect spine may help alleviate muscular strain and problems with vertebra. d) Pearls on a string. All movements should flow in a wavelike undulation from the feet up through the torso to the upper extremities, with the mind concentrating on relaxing the joints. The perfect teaching setting is a dance studio with a floor made of wood and mirrors all over the walls, so the trainer can be followed easily. Chairs should be available for those who have to do the exercises while sitting. The students should be provided with breathing signs to tell again to them to breathe while meditating or mimicking the movements of the trainer (Birkel, 1998). Tai Chi is the vital exercise routine for elderly women, partly because of its capability to promote both grace and power. Present-day working environment, where older adult women are competing with men, Tai Chi’s capability to foster an inner sense of self-assuring power can be exceptionally valuable and helpful. Nonetheless, Tai Chi can be of great help to elderly women for several biological reasons also. Bone density loss is a problem with several elderly women. Researches suggest that stress may be a primary factor contributing bone density loss in even younger women. The daily relief and relaxation Tai Chi promotes offers an effective precautionary therapy to guarantee a longer life and more active lifestyle for women (Scott, 1990). Researches have demonstrated that Tai Chi practice increases estrogens levels for elderly women, including those of the younger adults. This is greatly desirable since diminished estrogens levels subsequent to menopause bring about a loss of bone calcium and increase the threat of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease (Jable, 1998). Elderly women who enrol in weekly tai chi courses can have improved balance condition and mobility and diminished anxiety of falling, as a current study in Applied Nursing Research confirms. This may result in to fewer incidences of fall, which could lead into greater self-autonomy and self-care among the elderly women (Jable, 1998). In the current research, women aged 60 and above who were living in an aided care centre participated in organized tai chi programs for three months. Sessions were held two times a week for duration of 30 minutes. The approach of tai chi was an adjusted kind designed particularly for the elderly women. All participants were observed for duration of three months before beginning tai chi trainings to set up their foundational characteristics. Measurements of postural control, balance and flexibility, functional mobility, and anxiety of falling were considered initially, at the conclusion of the three-month training period, and the end of the research (Durward et al., 1999, 221). Nevertheless, there are considerations that should be integrated into the planning of tai chi program for elderly women are marketing, personnel selection, learning context, motivational scheme and assessment. Secondary marketing changes for fitness courses can attract older adult women. Successful fitness course communication with elderly women involves an awareness of the medium being used, timing, personal or face-to-face interaction, and printed materials. Tai chi program instructors should have particular experience and knowledge of elderly women’s physiological capabilities; sustain existing cardiopulmonary resuscitation certification; and show a genuine motivating character, a sincere concern for older adult women, and a constructive sense of humour (Brown & Johnson, 2000). In a learning context, transportation, appropriate attire, teaching techniques and mechanical assistances should be taken into account. When teaching elderly women, instructors should face them; talk to them naturally, audibly, and unhurriedly and lower the pitch of the voice; lessen background disruptions such as noises; use natural facial expressions but do not embellish lip and mouth movements. Instructors should chose music with older adult women and talk about volume level during the first session. Meanwhile, there is no motivational alternative for welcoming, genuine personal communication and interactions. Special acknowledgments and appreciations for attendance, eagerness, effort, and support of others can be granted to the participants. Video records of the sessions allow participants to monitor and review their own efforts and achievements. Understanding elderly women is the initial step in the planning of applicable and effective Tai Chi fitness programs. Integrating such knowledge into the planning of the program will more voluntarily attract older adult women participants, help lessen the risks of involvement, create comfy and conducive learning environments, and establish that leisure in old age can be an energetic process. Chapter V Conclusions Aging is a personal experience affected by general wellbeing, quality of life, and recognized health. Hence, exercise routines and physical activity courses for elderly women should be designed to take into account the unpredictability in physical functioning and strength of older participants. Leisure and physical education instructors have the opportunity to offer suitable and advantageous activity courses for elderly women. An intergenerational physical activity course is one channel to use in attaining this objective of enhancing the physical health of elderly women. This study provides a brief overview of the advantages of physical activity, specifically Tai Chi for older adults, particularly for elderly women, and a number of fundamental steps in improvements and performance of an intergenerational exercise routine or physical activity course. Several other opportunities are present for boosting the physical activity capacity of older adults. Unluckily, if a person has been immobile or inactive for a great deal of his/her life, it is frequently hard to start a program as a person ages. The solution to the participation of older adults is to encourage them to get involved in fostering an energetic and active lifestyle when they are much younger. 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