Effect of home-based Tai Chi, Yoga or conventional balance exercise on functional balance and mobility among persons with idiopathic Parkinson's disease: An experimental study.

Only 27 people took part, with 9 in each group, so the study is small and may miss real differences between the programs. The person measuring outcomes was not blinded to group allocation, which can affect performance-based scores. Follow-up was only at eight weeks, and there was no long-term follow-up, so the results do not show what happens after the program stops. All assessments were done during the medication on phase, so the results do not show balance and mobility at other times. Participants needed moderate supervision initially, so a fully unsupervised home program may not be safe for every patient. The study did not assess non-motor symptoms such as mood or depression, which the authors say could matter for Yoga. People were in Modified Hoehn and Yahr stage 2.5 or 3, and stage 3 was described as physically independent, so it says little about more advanced disease. No post-hoc analysis was done because there was no significant group effect, so the reported percentage differences between groups cannot be interpreted as evidence that one exercise was better.

The authors report no conflicts of interest. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Do not read the larger reported percentage changes in the Tai Chi group as proof that Tai Chi is better than Yoga or conventional balance exercise. The study found no significant difference between the groups, and no post-hoc analysis was done because the group effect was not significant.