Skip Navigation


Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on May 26, 2005
Age and Ageing 2005 34(5):439-444; doi:10.1093/ageing/afi114
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
34/5/439    most recent
afi114v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (7)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Xu, D.-Q.
Right arrow Articles by Hong, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Xu, D.-Q.
Right arrow Articles by Hong, Y.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org

Research Paper

Effect of regular Tai Chi and jogging exercise on neuromuscular reaction in older people

Dong-Qing Xu1,2, Jing-Xian Li3 and Youlian Hong1

1 Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
2 Department of Health & Exercise Science, Tianjin Institute of Physical Education, He Xi District, Tianjin, China
3 School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, 125 University Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada

Address correspondence to: Y. Hong. Fax: (+1) 852 2603 5781. E-mail: youlianhong{at}cuhk.edu.hk

Abstract

Objectives: to investigate the effects of regular Tai Chi (TC) or jogging exercise on neuromuscular reaction in older people.

Design: cross-sectional study.

Setting: university biomechanics laboratory.

Subjects: 21 long-term elderly TC practitioners were compared with 18 regular elderly joggers and 22 sedentary counterparts.

Measurements: electromyography (EMG) was used to detect the neuromuscular reaction of the leg muscles to an unexpected ankle inversion perturbation. The latency of the muscles, which was defined as the time that the moment of perturbation began to the onset of the EMG response, was evaluated.

Results: a one-way ANOVA revealed that there were significant differences in the latency of the rectus femoris (R) and anterior tibialis (T) muscles between the three groups, but that there were no differences in the latency of the semitendinosus (S) and gastrocnemius (G) muscles. Further tests indicated that the R and T muscles in the TC and jogging groups were activated significantly faster than those in the control group. No significant difference was found for the muscle onset latencies between the TC and jogging groups.

Conclusion: maintaining information processing speed during ageing is important, because of the role that it plays in many everyday events. The R and T muscles in the regular TC and jogging groups showed faster responses to unexpected ankle inversion perturbations, which is helpful for the timely correction of postural disturbances, than those in the sedentary control group.

Keywords: elderly, jogging, muscle latency, neuromuscular reaction, Tai Chi

Received November 5, 2004; accepted in revised form April 11, 2005.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Age AgeingHome page
J. Woo, A. Hong, E. Lau, and H. Lynn
A randomised controlled trial of Tai Chi and resistance exercise on bone health, muscle strength and balance in community-living elderly people
Age Ageing, May 1, 2007; 36(3): 262 - 268.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.