Tai Chi exercise and proprioception behavior in old people.

Eighty subjects aged over 60 participated in this study. Ankle and knee joint kinesthesia were measured in 21 long-term TC practitioners (TC group), 20 long-term swimming/running exercisers (S/R group), and 27 sedentary controls (control group). The results showed that ankle joint kinesthesia significantly differed among the three groups (p= 0.001). TC practitioners could detect a significantly smaller amount of motion than could the S/R exercisers (p = 0.022) and sedentary counterparts (p = 0.001). No significant difference was found between the S/R group and the sedentary control group (p = 0.701). For the knee joint, the threshold for detection of passive motion was significantly different in knee extension and flexion. For knee flexion, the TC group showed a significantly smaller mean threshold for detection of passive motion than did the subjects in the control group (p = 0.026). There were no significant differences between the S/R group and the control group (p = 0.312), the TC group and S/R group (p = 0.533). For knee extension, no significant difference was noted among the three groups (p = 0.597).