Abstract: Objective: To investigate the effect of sitting Tai Chi on upper limb motor function in Brunnstrom II stroke patients. Methods: Twenty patients with upper limb Brunnstrom stage II stroke were randomly divided into experimental group (N=10) and control group (N=10). Both groups of patients received routine rehabilitation training, 30 minutes of sitting tai chi training for the experimental group, and the same length of free rehabilitation exercise for the control group. Rehabilitation was assessed by Fugl-Meyer scale upper limb portion, modified Barthel index, shoulder forward flexor motion, shoulder abductor motion, and elbow flexor motion before and 4 weeks after treatment. Results: After 4 weeks of treatment, the FMA-UE score, shoulder flexion motion, shoulder abduction motion and elbow flexion motion of both groups were significantly improved (P<0.01), and the improvement results of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). There were significant differences in change rate of FMA-UE score, change rate of shoulder flexion range of motion and change rate of shoulder abduction range of motion between the two groups (P<0.05), but no significant differences in change rate of elbow flexion range of motion (P>0.05). After 4 weeks of treatment, the MBI score of the two groups was significantly improved (P<0.01), but there was no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05), and no significant difference in change rate of the MBI score between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: 4 weeks of sitting Tai Chi training can improve the upper limb motor function of Brunnstrom II stroke patients and effectively improve the shoulder joint flexion and abductive range of motion.

Key words: Tai Chi, stroke, Brunnstrom II, Upper limb motor function, sports rehabilitation, sports medicine