Working with older adults has always been very interesting to me. Besides the challenge they pose, I really enjoy just talking with them about their life experiences and try to gain little nuggets of wisdom from each person. In working with older adults, a common theme exists with each one and that is their varying levels of risk for falls which became the focus of my project.
Physical therapists generally only interact with patients through their plan of care, but most older adults need continued physical activity involvement with a focus on balance. In EBP II my PICO question initially compared Tai Chi to yoga to determine the most effective intervention. For the purposes of this project I eventually narrowed down the topic to include only Tai Chi and its effects on balance in varying populations. This is the updated evidence table.
My focus for the EBP II course was on comparing Tai Chi and yoga as means of balance techniques for older adults. Although yoga has some benefits, Tai Chi has much more research to support it and seems to be more realistic for a greater population of older adults. However, if you are interested in this comparison, here is a link to the full paper and the summary from EBP II.
The final aspect of my project that represents the bulk of my efforts is the supplemental online learning module created for PHYT 736. My goal was to create a module that can provide additional information on a valuable tool, tai chi, that physical therapists can recommend for their patients following discharge. The following links are to the VoiceThread, the PDF version of the presentation and the post-presentation evaluation.
I would like to especially thank my wonderful committee members who provided valuable guidance and feedback throughout this process. So thank you to Carol Guiliani, John Bartle, and Karen McCulloch. Although this module is intended for students in the PHYT 736 course, their abbreviated semester did not allow for student feedback. However, faculty feedback was greatly appreciated in developing an effective module.
5 Responses to “Falling For Tai Chi”
Amanda Reed
Great job Brittany! I think this presentation provided a great review of falls risks as well as a good overview of what Tai Chi is and who can benefit from it. I know that working with VoiceThread can be frustrating, but I think your presentation turned out great and the added commentary made it easy to follow and remember. Thanks for the wonderful information!!
Brittany
Katherine,
I actually have an article or two that is devoted more to developing Tai Chi classes for older adults. If you are seriously interested in developing a course I can send you those articles. If you couldn’t tell from my project, I am a big fan of the benefits Tai Chi has to offer. Thanks for checking out my project!
Brittany
kculver
Great project Brittany!!! I thought the presentation was great and very informative. It definitely brought across the problem of falls in the elderly and how tai chi can be beneficial. I frequently volunteer at an adult day care and they asked me to develop an exercise program for all of the participants. Tai chi would be an excellent addition to the program I created especially after learning that many of the exercises can be performed in sitting if necessary. Some of the information you provided will be great to show to the coordinator of the day care to show some evidence of tai chi’s effectiveness. Great work I really enjoyed reading your project 🙂
Karen McCulloch
Hi Brittany! Good job getting this all pulled together and fighting the good fight with technology to understand how those educational tools work (and some of the challenges of them!). I think you did a nice job of pulling together the older adult literature and summarizing what is known about effects there. As a visual person, I do like seeing illustrations of the different forms of tai chi as a way to understand what the exercise form offers….it still seems a little abstract although helped by the video clips. Share your voicethread with me and I’ll take a look there too….it wouldn’t “let me in” when I followed the link.
kmac
John bartle
What a wonderful discussion/project. The project provides clinical education which can be passed on to medical staff, interns, residents, physicians and other health care professionals. The project also points out the importance of being proactive in todays healthcare. Brittany – outstanding job!