最近发表在《神经康复与神经修复》期刊上的一篇研究报告称，练太极会帮助中风病人提升平衡感，防止跌倒。香港理工大学的几位研究人员在之前的研究中发现，练太极可以帮助身体健康的老年人提升平衡感。而在最近的这项研究中，他们将有6个月以上中风病史的患者分组做对比研究，发现练太极的中风患者的平衡能力均有所提高，而参与日常锻炼形式的患者则未见明显变化。

troke patients who practice tai chi may improve their balance — reducing the risk of falls, researchers say.

Writing in the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural¹ Repair, the researchers reported improvement in volunteers after as little as six weeks of training. The lead author was Stephanie S. Y. Au-Yeung of Hong Kong Polytechnic² University.

In earlier research, one of the article’s co-authors, Christina W. Y. Hui-Chan, found that tai chi improved balance among healthy elderly people. For this study, the researchers wanted to see if the same effect would occur among stroke patients.

They took 136 people who had a stroke six months or more earlier and divided them into two groups. Over 12 weeks, one group did general exercise, the other a modified version of tai chi.

The tai chi group met once a week for an hour, and were asked to practice at home about three hours a week.

While the exercise group showed little improvement in balance, the tai chi group made significant gains when they were tested on weight-shifting, reaching and how well they could maintain their stability on a platform that moved like a bus.

The benefit of tai chi, the researchers said, is that once the forms are mastered, they can be done without supervision³.

Still, they said, some patients lapsed⁴ in their practice after the training was over. They might be more likely to continue, the study said, if tai chi were available at places like community centers.