title: Regular Tai Chi Chuan exercise may retard bone loss in postmenopausal women: A case-control study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the potential benefits of regular Tai Chi Chuan exercise on the weight-bearing bones of postmenopausal women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case-control study.
  
  
  METHODS
  University medical school in Hong Kong.
  
  
  METHODS
  Postmenopausal women (age range, 50-59y), including 17 self-selected regular Tai Chi Chuan exercisers (TCE) with over 4 years of regular exercise, and 17 age- and gender-matched nonexercising controls (CON).
  
  
  METHODS
  Not applicable.
  
  
  METHODS
  Bone mineral density (BMD) in the lumbar spine and proximal femur was measured at baseline and at follow-up 12 months later by using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and in the distal tibia using multislice peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Baseline results showed that the TCE group had significantly higher BMD (10.1%-14.8%, all P<.05) than the CON group in the lumbar spine, proximal femur, and the ultradistal tibia. The follow-up measurements showed generalized bone loss in both groups. Although both DXA and pQCT measurements revealed decelerated rates of bone loss in the TCE group, only the more sensitive pQCT showed significantly reduced rate of bone loss in trabecular BMD of the ultradistal tibia (TCE vs CON: -1.10%+/-1.26% vs -2.18%+/-1.60%, P<.05) and of cortical BMD of the distal tibial diaphysis (TCE vs CON: -0.90%+/-1.36% vs -1.86%+/-0.93%, P<.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first case-control study to show that regular Tai Chi Chuan exercise may help retard bone loss in the weight-bearing bones of postmenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. lingqin@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Szeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Au
authors.forename: Wingyee
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Choy
authors.forename: Pingchung
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Marus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neff
authors.forename: Kwongman
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Mingchu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.forename: Kaiming
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D015519:Bone Density; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000517:prevention & control*; D026302:Tai Ji