Of the 135 participants who provided data, seven reported one or more falls during the first 6 weeks of the class, but no further falls were reported by anyone from week 7 through the end of the 12-week program. Of the 105 participants contacted during the 12-week post-intervention follow-up, only two participants reported a single

fall each. The findings from the aforementioned study led LY2157299 purchase to a strong emphasis on limits of stability training and subsequent development of several therapeutically based mini-movements using Tai Ji Quan. With an enhanced protocol, Li et al.14 applied this newly refined approach to a sample of patients with mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease. In this study, patients were randomized into three exercise groups: Tai Ji Quan, resistance training, or low-impact stretching exercise. Each group exercised twice per week for 24 weeks. At the end of the study, the results showed that patients who took part in Tai Ji Quan exercises experienced significant improvement in center-of-gravity movement excursions over the base of support, sensory integration (vision, somatosensory, vestibular), and movement control during excursion, stride length, and the ability to reach forward, compared to those who participated in either resistance strength training or low-impact exercise. Furthermore,

compared to those in the low-impact group, the Tai Ji Quan participants showed improved functional mobility and motor symptoms, as well as reduced incidence of falls. In an effort to improve GW3965 price sensorimotor integration, too the training protocol (currently named TJQMBB)15 was expanded to include several exercises to: (1) develop training movement patterns and strategies, and (2) maximize integration of proprioception, visual, and vestibular function. In a subsequent evaluation involving patients referred by healthcare providers, Li et al.15 reported that, after

a twice-weekly, 24-week training period, participants exhibited significant improvement in: (a) limits of stability (maximum excursion, movement control), (b) sensory integration, (c) gait measures of stride length and walking velocity, (d) Functional reach, (e) TUG, and (f) time to rise from a chair. Overall, these studies reported consistent results supporting the progressive protocol refinements made since the program’s inception. More recently, cognition has been incorporated into the program to provide a holistic approach to function by integrating motor, sensory, and cognitive components. The basis for including this dimension is that by ensuring that Tai Ji Quan practice involves significant attention, spatial-temporal orientation, memory, and executive functioning in addition to deliberate multi-segmental bodily movements and postural demands, it will tax the physiological and neurophysiological processes that drive beneficial neural adaptations in the brain.