Meta-Analysis on the effect of Tai Chi Chuan on Human Biomechanics and Health from (2021-2025)

Prior reviews emphasize overall health outcomes of Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) but rarely resolve the biomechanical intermediates (such as Center of Mass (CoM)-Center of Pressure (CoP) control, joint loading) that link practice to clinical function-knowledge that matters for balance, fall risk, and osteoarthritic knee load management. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to test the null hypothesis that TCC produces no improvement versus comparators in (i) biomechanical stability indices (mediolateral/anterior-posterior CoM-CoP separation; COP Root Mean Square RMS) and (ii) related clinical functions (such as Time up and go (TUG), Berg balance scale (BBS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC); alternative hypothesis: TCC improves these outcomes.

Eligible designs were randomized trials, non-randomized interventions (pre-post/controlled before-after), analytical cross-sectional comparisons (including repeated-measures and expert-novice contrasts), and finite-element analyses only when driven by in-study human kinematics/kinetics; timeframe 2021-2025; humans only.

Outcomes were continuous; therefore, pooled effects are reported as SMD (95% CI, p). Peak mediolateral CoM-CoP separation: SMD = 0.16 (-1.12 to 1.45), p = 0.80. Peak anteroposterior CoM-CoP separation: SMD = 0.33 (-0.65 to 1.31), p = 0.505. Mediolateral COP RMS in single-leg tasks: SMD = -1.60 (-4.16 to 0.96), p = 0.22.

Across the included studies, Tai Chi Chuan demonstrated favourable trends in balance control and joint loading under structured programs, with concurrent reductions in select clinical endpoints.