Which one is healthier, yoga or tai chi?

In fact, there is no absolute "who is healthier". Both are full-body exercises that have been proven in practice for thousands of years. If you practice them correctly, you will get high benefits. If you practice them incorrectly, there is a risk of injury. The key depends on whether they are suitable for the physical condition and practice needs of the practitioner.

I have followed three Tai Chi teachers and two yoga instructors. There are between 100 and 80 long-term practitioners of the two sports around me. I have never seen anyone who can say that one is definitely better than the other. Aunt Zhang, who lives downstairs from my house, used to suffer from severe degenerative disease in her knee joints. She occasionally felt weak when walking on flat roads. She tried square dancing and brisk walking before, but the pain was unbearable. Later, she practiced simplified 24-position Tai Chi with a teacher in the park for two years, and her knees never hurt again. Last year, she climbed Mount Huangshan with a senior citizen group, and everyone she met said Tai Chi was a "life-saving exercise." The planning girl from my previous company had rounded shoulders and forward head due to working at the desk all year round. She also suffered from sympathetic cervical spondylosis from time to time. She became dizzy and dizzy, and medication and physical therapy could only provide temporary relief. Later, she continued to practice Hatha Yoga for a year, and her posture gradually returned to normal. She has never had cervical spondylosis again. Now she uses Amway Yoga every time she meets someone.

The sports medicine community also has its own biases in research on these two types of exercise. Studies supporting Tai Chi focus more on the benefits of exercise for middle-aged and elderly people. After all, Tai Chi moves slowly and gently, puts little pressure on joints, and can also exercise core control and balance in slow motion. I have seen a tracking data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before. Elderly people who insist on Tai Chi for 40 minutes three times a week have a 47% lower risk of falling than elderly people of the same age who do not exercise, and their cardiopulmonary function has also been significantly improved. Research supporting yoga focuses more on musculoskeletal rehabilitation. Rehabilitation departments in many hospitals now use core activation and static stretching movements of yoga as auxiliary intervention methods for chronic back pain and mild scoliosis. For young and middle-aged people who sit for a long time, targeted yoga movements can quickly release tight muscles in the waist, neck and shoulders, and improve posture problems more efficiently.

Of course, this does not mean that these two people are "health-free". In the past two years, I have seen college students who forced themselves to follow the Internet celebrity tutorials to do yoga and tear their cruciate ligaments. I have also seen Tai Chi enthusiasts who squatted for half an hour until their knees were drained of fluid in order to pursue low-end effects. No matter which one you choose, blindly following the trend without considering your own situation and pursuing difficult movements beyond your ability will easily injure your body.

If you are really stuck on which one to choose, it is better to experience one or two classes of each. The one that can calm down and practice, and stretch your whole body without soreness after practicing, is the one that is healthier for you - after all, there is never a standard answer to exercise, and the one that suits you is the best.