For several years, researchers have discovered the Chinese ancient healing art of tai chi can help an older person maintain balance—or regain it—while avoiding the nasty falls that plague a number of our elders. Now the findings are directly helping in communities.
For seniors, those falls can lead to broken hips among other adversities, and often mark the beginning of a downhill slide of health. Any number of us have observed this wrong-way spiral in our own parents or other loved ones.
Some sharp workers at senior community centers in Lane County, Oregon were clearly reading and paying attention to the promising link between tai chi and staying younger—and in one piece. A recent issue of the American Journal of Public Health detailed how seniors in Lane County were avoiding falls and improving their overall health. The Oregon state department of human services was impressed enough to begin tai chi programs in four counties.
Now that’s community organizing.
Continue reading...Labels: alternative health, alternative medicine, bob condor |
