Healthy Living

Tai Chi: An Effective Treatment for Parkinson's Disease

Dr. Fuzhong Li's study

Dr. Fuzhong Li is a research scientist from the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene, Oregon. In 2007, he was one of the researchers who did a pilot study about the safety of tai chi to people who had mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Li said that they have been utilizing tai chi to train balance for healthy old adults, as well as for older adults and patients with Parkinson’s, who are both prone to falling.

With the help from NINDS, Dr. Li and his team were able to conduct a bigger clinical study to further learn about the positive effects of tai chi. They discovered that there is a learning curve among the participants. He said that after 4 to 5 months of practicing tai chi, the improvement seen in older people were similar to the patients who had Parkinson’s.