Article

OBJECTIVE: Examine the safety and feasibility of a 12-week Tai Chi intervention
among stroke survivors. Design: Two-group, prospective pilot study with random
allocation. SETTING: Outpatient rehabilitation facility.
Subjects: Stroke
survivors >/=50 years and
at >/=three months post-stroke. Interventions: Tai Chi
subjects attended group-based Yang Style classes three times/week for 12-weeks,
while Usual Care subjects received weekly phone calls along with written
materials/resources for participating in community-based physical activity. MAIN
OUTCOME MEASURES: Indicators of study safety and feasibility included recruitment
rates, intervention adherence, falls or adverse events, study satisfaction,
drop-outs, and adequacy of the outcomes measures. Results: Interested persons
pre-screened by phone (n = 69) were on average 68 years old, (SD = 13) years old,
48% (n = 33) women, 94% (n = 65) were at least three months post-stroke. A total
of 28 subjects aged 69 (SD = 11) years enrolled in this pilot study. Intervention
adherence rates were very high (>/=92%). There were no falls or other adverse
events. The dose of Tai Chi exercise (>/=150 minutes/week) was well tolerated.
Overall study satisfaction was high (8.3 (SD = 1.9); 1 = not satisfied, 10 = most
satisfied), while drop-outs (n = 3, 11%) were unrelated to study intervention.
Score distributions for the outcome measures were approximately normal, sensitive
to change, and seemed to favor the Tai Chi intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Tai Chi is
a safe, community-based exercise program for stroke survivors. Our data suggest
that recruitment and retention of an adequate sample is feasible, and that in a
full-scale study 52 subjects/group are needed to detect statistically significant
between group differences (alpha = 0.05, power = 0.80).

Langue : ANGLAIS