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Background: Older people are faced with special physical and mental health challenges associated with ageing. Over 20% of adults aged 60 and over suffer from a mental or neurological disorder. It is known, and has been shown in previous studies, that physical activity can enhance physical and mental health. Meditative martial arts such as Tai Chi are, in most cases, low-intensity mind-body exercises that involve very graceful movements, which are performed in a slow, rhythmical, and well-controlled manner. This makes the practice suitable for older adults. Study aim: To investigate and assess the impact of different types of martial arts on mental health, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and wellbeing among older adults, who are healthy or suffer from a mild cognitive impairment. Methods: This study focused on experimental studies with interventions of martial arts on older adults. Nine original articles gathered from Web of Science (n=1) and PubMed (n=8) were reviewed, compared and summarized. Keywords used were; “martial arts” AND “mental health” in both databases respectively. Results: The practice of martial arts is associated with positive results of both physical and mental health aspects. Tai Chi can lead to improvements of mental ability, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and improve the physical ability of older adults. Conclusion: Martial arts as a means of intervention may be beneficial for the wellbeing and overall quality of life in older adults and should be recommended. However, nine original articles are not sufficient for stating the significance of martial arts on mental health among older adults. Further research is therefore required.

University of Macau / Faculty of Education

published_or_final_version / Sports Science / Master / Master of Science in Sports Science

One in seven women will develop breast cancer. Most will suffer medically and psychologically from the disease. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) interventions such as tai chi and spiritual growth groups have proven to be beneficial for this population, however, many questions remain regarding the mechanisms of action in these techniques. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychosocial effects and mechanisms of two 10-week interventions (tai chi and spiritual growth groups) within the context of a larger randomized, controlled NCI-funded study (R01 CA114718, Nancy McCain, PI) in women recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The present study evaluated dispositional predictors (optimism, attentional style, emotional intelligence) as well as the effects of these interventions on measures of mood, coping, and quality of life (QOL) in a subsample of 40 women enrolled in the larger study. Participants were primarily Caucasian (73%) with a mean age of 49 years. Data were collected just prior to beginning chemotherapy when the interventions began, and again 10 weeks later. Twenty-nine participants completed the interventions and had both time 1 and time 2 data. There were 15 women in the tai chi group, 6 in the spiritual growth group, and 8 in the control group. Results from this subsample revealed differential effects of the interventions on total mood disturbance, depressive symptoms and QOL. Optimism was a significant predictor of TNF-α levels, monitoring was a significant predictor of changes in anxiety and QOL, and emotional intelligence was a significant predictor of changes in QOL. These findings give promise to future studies aimed at cross-validating with a larger sample. This research could potentially guide the treatment of women with breast cancer by providing enhanced understanding of how tai chi and spiritual growth groups affect this population psychologically, behaviorally, and biologically.

Title: The effect of selected exercise trends activating core stability system in dialysed patients - overview of the literature. Objective: Objective of this diploma thesis was to obtain and compare available studies dealing with exercise trends such as yoga, pilates, tai chi and balance training devices and to evaluate their effect on core stability system of dialysed patients. Methods: This diploma thesis has descriptively-analytical character and is structured in a form of literary review. Results: Issue of dialysis in connection with core stability system has not been sufficiently explored yet in literary sources. In conclusion, there were no studies found dealing with effects of particular exercise trends on core stability system of dialysed patients. In order to comprehend this issue an overview was written to define the effect of such trends on dialysed patients. Also, complications arising from renal failure and dialysis were mentioned such as hypertension, diabetes melitus and obesity. The effect of these trends on core stability system of healthy population as well as patients suffering from chronic back pain was described too. Conclusion: Some extent of coherence was found between strengthening core stability system and its effect on dialysed patients however further in- depth research...

Yeung, Pui Yee. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-145). / Abstract and some appendixes also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.i / ABSTRACT (in Chinese) --- p.iii / DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.v / RESEARCH-RELATED PRESENTATIONS AND AWARD --- p.vi / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.vii / LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS --- p.xi / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.xii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.xiii / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1 --- Incidence and prevalence of falls in older people --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Incidence and prevalence in western countries --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Incidence and prevalence in Hong Kong --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- Causes and risk factors for falls --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Causes for falls --- p.5 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Risk factors for falls --- p.6 / Chapter 2.3 --- Consequences of falls --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Individual perspective --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Impact on health service and society --- p.9 / Chapter 2.4 --- Intervention and prevention strategies --- p.10 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Effective interventions and preventive approaches --- p.10 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Areas of uncertainty for interventions and prevention approaches --- p.19 / Chapter 2.5 --- Existing efforts in intervention and prevention --- p.20 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- Worldwide levels and collaborations among various countries --- p.20 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Current services for falls prevention in Hong Kong --- p.23 / Chapter 2.6 --- Criteria contributing to successful intervention and risks modification --- p.27 / Chapter 2.6.1 --- Identification of elderly fallers at Accident & Emergency Department --- p.28 / Chapter 2.6.2 --- Selection of the proved effective programme to those likely to benefit --- p.29 / Chapter 2.6.3 --- Uptake and adherence of the target fallers to the selected programmes --- p.30 / Chapter 2.7 --- Current gaps in study of services for elderly fallers in Hong Kong --- p.31 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- METHODOLOGY --- p.32 / Chapter 3.1 --- Research objectives --- p.33 / Chapter 3.2 --- Operational definition of falls --- p.33 / Chapter 3.3 --- Study design --- p.34 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Diagrammatic illustration of the study design --- p.35 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- "Subjects, assessors and setting" --- p.37 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Sources of data collection --- p.38 / Chapter 3.3.4 --- Questionnaire and assessment instruments --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3.5 --- Referrals and interventions --- p.49 / Chapter 3.4 --- Plan of data analysis --- p.52 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- RESULT --- p.55 / Chapter 4.1 --- Progression of elderly fallers --- p.56 / Chapter 4.2 --- Characteristics of all elderly fallers presented to A&E --- p.58 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Demographics --- p.58 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Rate of hip fracture --- p.58 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Seasonal variation for occurrence of falls --- p.58 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- Subsequent one-year mortality --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2.5 --- Subsequent one-year occurrence of falls with presentation to A&E --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2.6 --- Subsequent one-year hospitalization and length of stay --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3 --- Profile of elderly fallers who received comprehensive falls assessment --- p.63 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Demographics --- p.63 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- "Circumstances, consequences and past history of falls" --- p.67 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Health and functional profile --- p.75 / Chapter 4.4 --- Uptake of interventions or referrals by elderly fallers --- p.89 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Uptake rate of various interventions or referrals --- p.89 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Reasons for refusing interventions or referrals --- p.89 / Chapter 4.5 --- Comparison between recurrent fallers and non-recurrent fallers --- p.91 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- Co-morbidity between recurrent fallers and non-recurrent fallers --- p.91 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- Functional profile between recurrent fallers and non-recurrent fallers --- p.91 / Chapter 4.6 --- Comparison between injurious falls and non-injurious falls --- p.93 / Chapter 4.6.1 --- Co-morbidity between fallers with resultant injury and fallers without injury --- p.93 / Chapter 4.6.2 --- Functional profile between fallers with resultant injury and fallers without injury --- p.93 / Chapter 4.7 --- Comparison of the profiles between the elderly fallers and the general older population in Hong Kong --- p.95 / Chapter 4.7.1 --- Comparison in demographics --- p.95 / Chapter 4.7.2 --- Comparison in self-perceived health --- p.95 / Chapter 4.7.3 --- Comparison in lifestyle factors --- p.95 / Chapter 4.7.4 --- Comparison in BMI --- p.96 / Chapter 4.7.5 --- Comparison in morbidity --- p.96 / Chapter 4.7.6 --- Comparison in number of disease --- p.97 / Chapter 4.7.7 --- Comparison in medication use --- p.97 / Chapter 4.8 --- Comparison between fallers attended and those who did not attend the falls assessment clinic in terms of the subsequent one-year results --- p.102 / Chapter 4.8.1 --- Comparison in subsequent one-year mortality --- p.102 / Chapter 4.8.2 --- Comparison in subsequent one-year recurrent falls with presentation to A&E --- p.102 / Chapter 4.8.3 --- Comparison in subsequent one-year hospitalization and LOS --- p.103 / Chapter 4.9 --- Validation of a simple screening tool adopted from the Mr. Os (Hong Kong) study by the result of this study --- p.106 / Chapter CHAPTER --- 5 DISCUSSION --- p.108 / Chapter 5.1 --- Profile of elderly fallers presenting to A&E and its implications to health care planning for the elderly --- p.110 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Profile of fallers in terms of subsequent one-year results --- p.110 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Profile of fallers compared with general older population --- p.111 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Implications on health care planning for the elderly --- p.113 / Chapter 5.2 --- Acceptability of various interventions and referrals by fallers and its implications to health care planning for the elderly --- p.116 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Uptake rates for various interventions and referrals --- p.116 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Views towards various interventions and referrals by fallers --- p.117 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Implications on health care planning for the elderly --- p.117 / Chapter 5.3 --- Discussion of other findings --- p.120 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Seasonal variation in occurrence of falls --- p.120 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- "Circumstances, consequences and past history of falls" --- p.122 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Comparison between recurrent fallers and non-recurrent fallers in terms of co-morbidity and functional profile --- p.123 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- Comparison between fallers with resultant injury and fallers without injury in terms of co-morbidity and functional profile --- p.123 / Chapter 5.3.5 --- Comparison between fallers attended and those who did not attend the falls assessment clinicin terms of subsequent one-year results --- p.124 / Chapter 5.3.6 --- Usefulness of the risk profile of recurrent falling adopted from Mr. Os (Hong Kong) Studyin screening the fallers with high risk of falling --- p.125 / Chapter 5.4 --- Limitations --- p.126 / Chapter 5.5 --- Recommendations for further research --- p.128 / Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- CONCLUSION --- p.129 / REFERENCES --- p.131 / APPENDICES / Appendix 1 Assessment Form used in Falls Assessment Clinic --- p.146 / Appendix 2a Scale for Subjective Socioeconomic Status -English version --- p.151 / Appendix 2b Scale for Subjective Socioeconomic Status -Chinese version --- p.152 / Appendix 3a Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire -English version --- p.153 / Appendix 3b Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire -Chinese version --- p.155 / Appendix 4 Modified Barthel Index --- p.157 / Appendix 5 Rating Form for Impairment in IADL --- p.159 / Appendix 6 Mini-Mental State Examination -Cantonese version (CMMSE) --- p.160 / Appendix 7 Geriatric Depression Scale - Four-item short form (GDS-4) --- p.162 / Appendix 8 Berg Balance Scale - short form (BBS short form) --- p.163

Darbo objektas: nuolatinio (> 3 mėn.) apatinės nugaros dalies skausmo, negalios dėl jo, judamojo atraminio aparato funkcinių ir pusiausvyros rodiklių pokytis po 8 savaičių Čen stiliaus Taidzičiuan treniruočių įtakos. Tyrimo problema: ar Čen stiliaus Taidzičiuan treniruočių programa gali įtakoti rodiklius susijusius su nuolatiniu apatinės nugaros dalies skausmu? Hipotezė: Čen stiliaus 8 savaičių trukmės Taidzičiuan treniruočių programa turi teigiamą įtaką, skausmo bei su juo susijusios negalios, judamojo atraminio aparato funkciniams bei pusiausvyros rodikliams esant apatinės nugaros dalies skausmui. Tikslas: nustatyti, kokią įtaką turi 8 savaičių trukmės Čen stiliaus Taidzičiuan treniruočių programa esant nuolatiniam apatinės nugaros dalies skausmui. Uždaviniai: 1. nustatyti skausmo ir negalios dėl jo rodiklius bei įvertinti jų kaitą; 2. nustatyti judamojo atraminio aparato funkcinius rodiklius bei įvertinti jų kaitą; 3. nustatyti pusiausvyros rodiklius ir įvertinti jų kaitą. Tiriamieji: 10 tiriamųjų (8 moterys ir 2 vyrai, 42,8 ± 11,6 metų amžiaus, 168,1 ± 4,6 cm ūgio, 66,3 ± 13,0 kg svorio, nuolatinio apatinės nugaros dalies skausmo trukmė – 8,6 ± 7,7 metai). Išvados: 8 savaičių trukmės Čen stiliaus Taidzičiuan treniruočių programa, esant nuolatiniam apatinės nugaros dalies skausmui yra efektyvi mažinant skausmą bei negalią dėl jo, tačiau neturi reikšmingos įtakos judamojo atraminio aparato funkciniams rodikliams (išskyrus padidėjusį lankstumą į šonus, bei kairės kojos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Subject of study: impact of 8 weeks duration Chen style Taijiquan training program on chronic (> 3 month) low back pain, disability, functional musculoskeletal system and balance indicators. Problem of study: can Chen style Taijiquan training program influence indicators, which are related with chronic low back pain? Hypothesis: 8 weeks duration Chen style Taijiquan training program has positive influence on pain, disability, functional and balance indicators for people, who have chronic low back pain. The aim: to assess, what impact has 8 weeks duration Chen style Taijiquan training program on chronic low back pain, disability, functional and balance indicators. Objectives: 1. to assess indicators of pain and disability and evaluate alternation; 2. to assess functional indicators of body and evaluate alternation; 3. to assess indicators of balance and evaluate alternation. Participants: 10 participants (8 woman and 2 man, 42,8 ± 11,6 year old, height - 168,1 ± 4,6 cm, weight - 66,3 ± 13,0 kg, duration of chronic low back pain - 8,6 ± 7,7 years). Conclusions: 8 weeks duration Chen style Taijiquan training program has positive influence on reducing pain and disability, but does not have influence on functional indicators of body (except increase range of side flexibility and length of left leg posterior muscles). Balance indicators (length of swinging trajectory and average swinging speed) also were not influenced.

Musculoskeletal disorders are common among musicians at all levels of performance. Since music teachers train our future musicians it is important to understand their work environment. By creating good examples of a healthy work environment, they can teach their students how to stay healthy and to prevent pain. The aim of this thesis was to study the work environment of music teachers at municipal music schools, with regard to physical and psychosocial factors and musculoskeletal disorders with the focus on neck and shoulder disorders. An additional aim was to investigate the variability of the playing technique in string players and to investigate if they could play with greater variation in the trapezius muscle activity pattern after a training intervention program. In a cross-sectional study at 23 municipal music schools, 171 out of the 208 (82%) music teachers reported that they had experienced work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) during the previous year. Women reported significantly more symptoms in the neck, the shoulders and the upper back compared to men. Both physical and psychosocial work factors were associated with neck and shoulder disorders. For women “high mental work demands” and “teaching at many schools” could be seen as risk factors and for men “lifting”, “playing the guitar” and “low social support at work” were risk factors. The occurrence of WMSDs was also investigated, over an eight-year period, in music teachers at one music school. The result showed that neck, shoulder and lower back disorders were common and tended to be of long duration and to increase over the years. In an interview study, nine music teachers focused on what they perceived to be important for their health and well-being. Replenishing and using up energy was found to be the core category. Creativity in the music and working with other musicians were perceived as sources of energy, while the goals of the organisation were experienced as stressful and used up energy. Whether the work was regarded as pedagogical or musical could affect the perception of health and the strategies for dealing with the strains of work. In two studies using electromyography, the variation in the trapezius muscle activity pattern in string musicians was investigated. The results suggested that each musician could repeat their muscular activity pattern in a similar way between two playing sessions. No difference was found in the trapezius muscle activity between five violinists who trained basic Body Awareness Therapy (BAT), a technique having its roots in Tai Chi Chuan tradition, compared to a reference group of nine violinists who did not take part in any training. However, the training group perceived positive changes in breathing, muscular tension, postural control and concentration during practice sessions. Neck and shoulder disorders were associated with physical and psychosocial factors at work. A process of replenishing and using up energy was important for music teachers’ health. The playing technique in string musicians seemed to be repeatable but difficult to affect over a short-term period. For future musicians it is crucial to learn good working technique at an early age. In the learning process the music teacher is a vital role model. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2003, Härtill 5 uppsatser</p> / digitalisering@umu

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