PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Tai Chi exercise on muscle strength, balance, flexibility and bone mineral density among community dwelling elderly women.
METHODS
A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a nonequivalent comparison group was utilized, Elderly women were recruited from the community settings and assigned to either the treatment group (n=30) or the comparison group (n=34). Both groups completed the pretest and the posttest measures at six months with an 29.7% of dropouts. Tai Chi exercise was performed for 60 minutes, three times a week for 24 weeks. The study participants were referred to the sports clinic of the university hospital where an exercise therapist and a technician measured muscle strength, balance, flexibility, and bone mineral density without the knowledge of the group assignment. Data were collected from June 14, 2010 to May 27, 2011.
RESULTS
At the completion of 6 month Tai Chi exercise, the experimental group showed a significant difference in knee flexor strength (t=3.26, p=.002), flexibility (t=-2.93, p=.005), and bone mineral density in femur (t=2.20, p=.032), compared to the control group.
CONCLUSION
Tai Chi exercise could be performed safely to community dwelling elderly women and effective for preventing declining in physical function in this population. Whether or not this health benefits would lead fall prevention will require further study.

Citations

• A trend of Tai Chi in osteoporosis research: A bibliometric analysis
  Libing Liang, Mingyue Zhang, Kunpeng Li, Jianmiao Hou, Caiqin Wu
  Complementary Therapies in Medicine.2024; 86: 103083.     CrossRef
• Effects of 12-week Tai Chi program on physical function, depression, and quality of life among cognitively impaired older adults: a feasibility study
  Hyunkyoung Oh, Rhayun Song, Seon Joo Kim
  BMC Geriatrics.2023;[Epub]     CrossRef
• The Effects of Tai Chi Chuan Exercise Training on the Lower Extremities of Middle-Aged and Elderly
  Bo-Jen Ko, Ting-Ting Lee, Tai-Yen Hsu, Chen-Fu Huang
  Applied Sciences.2022; 12(9): 4460.     CrossRef
• The effects of tai chi chuan exercise training on countermovement jump performance in the elderly
  Bo-Jen Ko, Tai-Yen Hsu, Chen-Fu Huang
  Research in Sports Medicine.2020; 28(4): 563.     CrossRef
• The Effects of Tai Chi Exercise on Hope, Dependency, and Perceived Health Status of Elderly Women
  Yong Ju Park, Ja Ok Kim
  Journal of muscle and joint health.2014; 21(2): 106.     CrossRef

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship among life style, body composition and Bone Mineral Density (BMD) in community dwelling Korean adults.
METHODS
Data were collected from 140 adults who participated in a health check-up program at community health departments in D city, Choong-chung providence. Subjects' life style was assessed with a structured interview survey. Body composition analyses were performed by the bioimpedence method and BMD was measured by peripheral dual energy X-ray absorptionmetry.
RESULTS
Among the subjects, 39.3% showed normal BMD values, 50.7% were osteopenic and 10% were assessed as osteoporotic. BMD was significantly different by gender, age, education, economic status and BMI. Subjects who had three or more meals/day had higher BMD then who had less than three meals (t=-2.273, p=.026). BMD was not influenced by regular exercise, alcohol consumption, or smoking. In terms of body composition, there was a significant relationship between fat free mass and BMD (r=.172, p=.043).
CONCLUSION
Implementing an osteoporosis prevention program would be warrented considering the significant proportion of osteopenic or osteoporotic subjects. Regular eating habit with three meals for adequate nutrition need to be emphasized to prevent further bone loss in this population. Among the body composition, fat free mass seem to be the mostly predicting factor for BMD.

PURPOSE
We analyzed climacteric symptoms, bone mineral density (BMD), serum estradiol (E2) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) to identify the health benefits of meridian massage in perimenopausal women.
METHODS
There were 16 women in the experimental group and 17 people in the control group. Meridian massage was performed for 4 weeks, 3 times a week for 20 minutes each session. The data were collected pre-treatment, posttreatment and 4 weeks after treatment. SPSS/WIN 11.5 was used for data analysis.
RESULTS
After meridian massage, there were significant differences in climacteric symptoms (U = 65.50, p = .011) and BMD (U = 65.50, p = .011) between the two groups. The E2 level showed a significant difference between the two groups pre- and posttreatment (U = 75.00, p = .028). FSH showed a significant increase when measured at 4 weeks after the treatment as compared with the amount when measured post-treatment within the control group (z = -2.249, p = .025), experimental group showed a stable change in FSH. but there was no significant difference between the groups.
CONCLUSION
In this study, we confirmed the effects of Meridian massage in decreasing climacteric symptoms, inhibiting the decrease of BMD and stabilizing serum hormone in perimenopausal women. Therefore, it can be considered for use as a nursing intervention for health management in perimenopausal women.

PURPOSE
To identify the predictors of calcium intake behavior and examine the relationships among bone mineral density, osteoporosis knowledge, osteoporosis health belief, osteoporosis self efficacy and calcium intake behavior of postmenopausal osteoporosis patients.
METHODS
The subjects consisted of 94 patients. The measurement tools were osteoporosis knowledge test, osteoporosis health belief scale, osteoporosis self-efficacy and calcium intake frequency questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN 11.0 program.
RESULTS
The bone mineral density of the lumbar were .75g/cm2, T-score -2.67 and the femur neck were .67g/cm2, T-score -2.30. There was statistically a significant correlation between calcium intake behavior and health motivation (r=.449, p=.000) among the osteoporosis health belief. In hierarchial multiple regression analysis, current spouse(12.8%) and health motivation(19.9%) of the osteoporosis health belief explained the 32.7% of variance in calcium intake behavior.
CONCLUSION
Nursing intervention should be developed for increasing the calcium intake behavior through promoting health motivation for the postmenopausal osteoporosis women having no spouse currently.

PURPOSE
To evaluate physical characteristics, lifestyle related to bone-health, and bone mineral density (BMD) in mothers and their daughters and to determine the predictors of BMD. METHOD: BMDs at the forearm, lumbar spine, and femur were measured in 101 healthy, mother-daughter pairs by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Mother-daughter differences between general characteristics, means for BMDs were assessed by chi2-test, t-tests. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify predictors of BMD in each group. RESULTS: Mothers had significantly higher BMD than their daughters at forearm, lumbar spine, and femur. The predictors of mothers' BMDs were body weight, body mass index (BMI) and percentage body fat, explaining 5.1~31.6% of the variation in BMDs. BMI, percentage body fat and their mother's BMD of the corresponding site bone were predictors in daughters, explaining 17.5~31.6% of the variations in BMDs. CONCLUSION: These results indicate the importance of weight on bone that the BMDs seems to be related to fat free mass both in young-adult daughters and in middle aged mothers. These also suggest the importance of intervention for the development of BMD in daughter of mother with low BMD.

PURPOSE
This study were to investigate BMD of middle-aged women and to examine the relationships between BMD and Physical, Obstetric characteristics METHOD: The data was collected from 119 healthy women who were 40-60 years old. they were examined for BMD at 4 regions(forearm, lumbar, femur, whole body), %fat by DEXA and investigated physical, obstetric characteristics using scale, questionnaire from January to March, 2001.
RESULT
1) According to bone diagnostic results by WHO classification, 95.8% of forearm and whole body BMD were normal but 21.8-48.7% of lumbar and femur BMD(neck, trochanter, ward's triangle) were diagnosed osteoporosis or osteopnea. 2) The bones were significantly positive correlations of each other (r=.19-.69, p=.04-.00) and there were significant correlations between BMD and physical, obstetric characteristics such as age (r=-.22, p=.02), weight(r=.36~.48, p=.00), height(r=.22, p=.02), %fat(r=.19, p=.04) and age of first delivery(r=-.28, p=.00).
CONCLUSION
Based on this study, healthy middle-aged women were also exposed to risk of osteoporosis related to aging, change of physical conditions or hormonal release. Further research to develop nursing interventions for the purpose of preventing osteoporosis by modifying risk factors is suggested.