• Gen Li, Pei Huang, Shishuang Cui, Yachao He, Yuyan Tan, and Shengdi Chen.
• Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
• J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. 2024 Feb 14; 95 (3): 222228222-228.

BackgroundTai Chi has shown beneficial effects on the motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD), but no study has reported the effect of long-term Tai Chi training.ObjectiveTo examine whether long-term Tai Chi training can maintain improvement in patients with PD.MethodsCohorts of patients with PD with Tai Chi training (n=143) and patients with PD without exercise as a control group (n=187) were built from January 2016. All subjects were assessed at baseline and in November 2019, October 2020 and June 2021. A logarithmic linear model was used to analyse rating scales for motor and non-motor symptoms. The need to increase antiparkinsonian therapies was presented as a Kaplan-Meier plot and as a box plot. The bootstrap method was used to resample for statistical estimation.ResultsTai Chi training reduced the annual changes in the deterioration of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and delayed the need for increasing antiparkinsonian therapies. The annual increase in the levodopa equivalent daily dosage was significantly lower in the Tai Chi group. Moreover, patients benefited from Tai Chi training in motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms and complications.ConclusionTai Chi training has a long-term beneficial effect on PD, with an improvement in motor and non-motor symptoms and reduced complications.Trial Registration NumberNCT05447975.© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

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