The Effect of tai chi Exercise Program on balance in Women with Multiple Sclerosis

History and objective: balance disorder is one of the widespread problems in patients who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The literature shows that 78 percent of patients who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis complain about imbalance. Imbalance causes decline in performance independence, expansion of disability, and also increase in danger of falling. Sport and physical activity is an important and non-pharmological way of treatment for improving MS patients’ balance. The present study aims at investigating the influence of Tai Chi training program on patients who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis. Methodology: 30 females suffering from Multiple Sclerosis participated in this study. Their ages ranged between 20-30 with EDSS degree of 1-4. They were randomly assigned in to experimental (N: 15) and control (N: 15) groups. Tai Chi training program comprised of 8 weeks (3 sessions a week). Berg Balance Scale was used to measure the balance in MS patients. The obtained data was put in to spss 16 software and analyzed using dependent and independent t-tests. Results: the results show that there is a significant difference between the obtained scores before and after the intervention. There is also a significant difference between the average points of balance in experimental and control groups, so that the amount of balance in experimental group was significantly increased after the training period. Conclusion: Tai Chi exercises can lead to increase in balance and decrease in danger of falling in patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis.

Keywords

Multiple Sclerosis- balance – Tai Chi

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