Older Adults With Tai-chi Experience Have Better Visuospatial Ability And Postural Stability During Goal-directed Movements

PURPOSE: Falls are directly related to visuospatial ability and postural stability. Perturbations of upper body movements pose a challenge to older adults and may cause falls. This study investigated visuospatial ability and postural stability during goal-directed upper body movements between the Tai-Chi (TC) and non-exercise older-adult practitioners. METHODS: Eighteen TC practitioners (aged 69.7 ± 3.9 years, with 10.6 ± 5.6 years of TC experience) and 19 non-exercise practitioners (aged 68.2 ± 3.3 years) were recruited to perform both touch (TT) and blind touch (BTT) tasks. During TT, each participant used their index finger to touch a marker positioned at shoulder height and a distance of 1.3 times their arm length. During BTT, the marker was removed, and participants were instructed to touch the position they remembered. The target positioning error (TPE) between the finger and the remembered marker location during BTT, recorded using a motion analysis system, served as an indicator of visuospatial ability. Additionally, the time taken for the body to regain stability after the marker was detached from the finger, recorded by a force plate, was used to assess postural stability. Independent sample t-tests were employed to detect any significant differences between the groups. RESULTS: TC practitioners had significantly less TPE in the vertical direction (TC = 20.3 ± 3.9 mm, non-exercise = 34.9 ± 4.4 mm, p = 0.019) and three-dimensional space (TC = 61.0 ± 6.9 mm, non-exercise = 101.3 ± 10.3 mm, p = 0.003) during BTT; TC practitioners had longer TTS in both anterior-posterior (TC = 2.25 s, non-exercise = 2.93 s, p = 0.002) and mediolateral (TC = 2.16 s, non-exercise = 2.88 s, p < 0.001) directions. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term TC practitioners exhibited superior visuospatial ability and postural stability during goal-directed upper body movements.