Medical Qigong for Mobility and Balance Self-Confidence

The population is aging and increasingly at risk for falls and fractures with substantial consequences to wellbeing, health and costs. Training interventions such as Tai Chi have been demonstrated to help reduce these risks. Tai chi is a subset of both martial and medical qi gong. This is a prospective intervention study with wait time control that will examine the ability of a manualized medical qi gong training protocol improve balance, gait and health self-confidence. The intervention is a 12 week manualized medical qi gong training program where students are taught a progressive series of 10 qi gong forms that are designed to build upon each other and restore balance and function. These forms involve both physical movement and visualization. The Community Balance and Mobility scale (a performance based measure) and Activities-specified Balance Confidence scale (a survey)will be the prime outcome instruments