Golf beats Tai Chi for Parkinson’s mobility

Practising swing at driving range may prove more beneficial for balance than the martial art, study finds

PLAYING golf may be better for Parkinson’s sufferers than Tai Chi for improving balance and mobility, a study suggests.

Although the Chinese martial art is not officially recommended by the NHS as a treatment for the disease, day centres and surgeries advertise Tai Chi classes for Parkinson’s patients.

Richard Selby, a Tai Chi instructor at the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s Parkinson’s Day Unit, said the sessions gave patients a “sense of well-being which helps them manage their condition better”.

And previous research reported in the New England Journal of Medicine found twice-weekly Tai Chi training led to improved postural stability, walking ability, and fewer falls for patients.

But the latest research, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology next month, found that people who practised their golf swing at a driving range were quicker and more mobile after 10 weeks than those who took Tai Chi.

The study involved 20 people with moderate Parkinson’s disease split into two groups; eight were randomly assigned to practise golf, while 12 did Tai Chi. Both completed 10 weeks of two one-hour group classes a week.

At the beginning and end of the study the researchers tested the patients’ balance, walking ability and risk of falling.

In one test, participants were timed while getting up from a chair, walking 10 feet and then returning to the chair and sitting down. The golfers were 0.96 seconds faster on the test at the end of the study than at the beginning, while those who did Tai Chi were 0.33 seconds slower. No difference was reported between the groups for falls or adverse events.

Study author Dr Anne-marie Wills, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said: “We know that people with Parkinson’s disease benefit from exercise, but not enough people with the disease get enough exercise as therapy.

“Golf is popular – the most popular sport for people over the age of 55 – which might encourage people to try it and stick with it. We decided to compare golf to Tai Chi in our study because Tai Chi is the gold standard for balance and preventing falls in people with Parkinson’s.”

More than four in five golfers said they were more likely to continue with the activity, compared with a third of those who practised Tai Chi.

Dr Wills added: “Our finding that golfers were much more likely to continue with their sport is exciting because it doesn’t matter how beneficial an exercise is on paper if people don’t actually do it. So if swinging a golf club is more appealing than practising

Tai Chi, by all means go to a driving range and hit balls for an hour instead.”

Claire Bale, head of research at Parkinson’s UK, said: “People with Parkinson’s often tell us that exercise is just as important as their medication when it comes to managing their symptoms, but we know Parkinson’s is a complex condition and there is not simply a onesize-fits-all approach when it comes to exercise and physical activity.”

The researchers cautioned that although the results were “surprising” the small sample size and the fact they were evaluated over a short period of time meant more research was needed.