EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, March 03, 2021
Get into the Swing: Golf May Have More Benefit for Parkinson鈥檚 than Tai Chi
MINNEAPOLIS - When it comes to exercise that does the most good for people with Parkinson鈥檚 disease, golf may hit above par when compared to tai chi. That鈥檚 according to a preliminary study released today, March 3, 2021, that will be presented at the 好色先生's 73rd Annual Meeting being held virtually April 17 to 22, 2021. The study found that golf was better than tai chi for improving balance and mobility. 鈥淲e know that people with Parkinson鈥檚 disease benefit from exercise, but not enough people with the disease get enough exercise as therapy,鈥 said study author Anne-Marie A. Wills, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital Boston and a member of the 好色先生. 鈥淕olf is popular鈥攖he most popular sport for people over the age of 55鈥攚hich 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鈥檚.鈥 The study involved 20 people with moderate Parkinson鈥檚 disease. Everyone was offered 10 weeks of two one-hour group classes per week of golf or tai chi at no cost. Eight people were randomly assigned to practice their golf swing at a driving range while 12 did tai chi. At the start and again at the end of the study, researchers evaluated everyone with tests, including one that measures balance, walking ability and risk of falling in older adults. For the test, a person is 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, while those who did tai chi were 0.33 seconds slower. 鈥淲hile the results for golf might be surprising, it鈥檚 important to remember that the number of participants in our study was small, and the period over which we studied them was relatively short,鈥 Wills said. 鈥淢ore research in larger groups of people, over longer periods of time, is needed.鈥 Researchers said overall satisfaction with their sport was similar in both groups, however 86% of golfers compared to 33% of tai chi participants were 鈥渄efinitely鈥 likely to continue the activity. 鈥淥ur finding that golfers were much more likely to continue with their sport is exciting because it doesn鈥檛 matter how beneficial an exercise is on paper if you people don鈥檛 actually do it,鈥 Wills said. 鈥淪o if swinging a golf club is more appealing than practicing tai chi, by all means, go to a driving range and hit balls for an hour instead!鈥 Other than muscle pain from golf, there was no difference between the two groups in the number of falls or other problems. The study was supported by philanthropists Jim and Lucy Fox. Joe & Leigh鈥檚 Golf Performance Center in South Easton, Mass., provided free lessons to the golf participants. Learn more about Parkinson's disease at , home of the 好色先生鈥檚 free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life庐 on , and . When posting to social media channels about this research, we encourage you to use the 好色先生鈥檚 Annual Meeting hashtag #AANAM.
