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The interrelationship between balance, Tai Chi and depression in Latino older adults

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Abstract

Falls and associated injuries are the most serious medical problem affecting the functional independence among both White non-Hispanics and Latino older adults. Studies have shown the effectiveness of Tai Chi exercise in reducing falls but have primarily focused on White non-Hispanic older adults. There is limited research that examines the effectiveness of this exercise on balance among different racial/ethnic minority older adults. This study focused on the interrelationship between functional status (balance performance) and psychosocial status (depression) before and after a 12-week Tai Chi program among Latinos in a Midwestern metropolitan city. Results indicated that at baseline, prior to the start of the Tai Chi program, participants who were more depressed had poorer functional status. Participants who had higher depression at baseline, experienced greater improvement in functional status, following the 12-week Tai Chi exercise program, compared with those who had lower levels of depression.

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Acknowledgments

The project was approved by our insitutional review board (IRB# 454-11-EP) and supported by the Mutual Fund from the College of Public Health at University of Nebraska Medical Center. Authors would like to thank the two Hispanic Tai Chi Instructors, Ms. Teresita Ayala and Ms. Ilda Vazqves, for teaching the Tai Chi program, and the student researcher, Kelsey Wilhelm, for data collection at the Intercultural Senior Center. We would also thank Ms. Teresa Hartman to provide comments on this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physical Therapy Education, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 984420 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198, USA

    Ka-Chun Siu & Shireen S. Rajaram

  2. Intercultural Senior Center, 3010 R St, Omaha, NE, 68107, USA

    Carolina Padilla

  3. Health Promotion, Social & Behavioral Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 986075 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198, USA

    Shireen S. Rajaram

Authors
  1. Ka-Chun Siu
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  2. Carolina Padilla
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  3. Shireen S. Rajaram
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Correspondence to Ka-Chun Siu.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Statement of human and animal rights

All procedures performed in this project involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of our institutional review board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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Siu, KC., Padilla, C. & Rajaram, S.S. The interrelationship between balance, Tai Chi and depression in Latino older adults. Aging Clin Exp Res 29, 395–401 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-016-0593-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-016-0593-7

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