Health Effects of Tai Chi
Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese exercise and a form of
moving meditation. Although Tai Chi's
moves were founded in martial arts it was also devised for maintaining health
and helping to treat disease. Many forms of Tai Chi exist today, and more than
100 million people worldwide practice it.
Perhaps the most popular is the Yang form, devised by
Yang Lo-sim or Yang Lu-chan
(1799-1872). His sons, Yang
Chien-hou, and Yang Sou-hou, taught their father’s martial form. However, Sou-hou’s son, Yang Cheng-fu, saw a
need for all people regardless of age and health to be able to gain the great
health benefits that Tai Chi Chuan had to offer so he set about changing what
he was originally taught by his father, so that all of the original leaping and
fa-jing (explosive energy) moves were left out. When he had finished, he had
invented what we now know as Yang Tai Chi Chuan, the slow moving form that most
people practice. This form was easier to learn and so became more popular than
the old Yang Sou-hou form.
Cheng-fu changed the old form
only enough so that the essential healing essence of Tai Chi Chuan would be
preserved. In one of Yang Cheng-fu's
books, written by Chen Wei-ming, he actually states that to change this form
any further would bring disaster!
Others came along after Yang
Cheng-fu and changed the form further leaving out all of the repeated and
important movements. The most famous of
these was Cheng Man Ching’s short form.
He was one of the first people to introduce Tai Chi into the USA. However, other people invented or taught
various short Tai Chi forms. However,
unlike Cheng Man Ching, they didn’t try to preserve or didn’t know the principles
of Tai Chi. What is left is many commercialized, modern dance forms – only
shells of the original forms with almost no healing or martial benefits! These
so-called 'short forms' are even more popular than the Yang Chen-fu form.
Yang
Lu-chan was a genius. He saw a need for
a martial system that not only contained the most deadly self-defense
applications but also self-defense against disease and depletion of Qi and a Qi
system that was out of balance. Therefore, he built into the whole form a way
of activating the Qi flow through each acupuncture meridian, the way that it is
activated naturally, by biorhythms, in a 24-hour period. During the performance
of the old Yang form every organ in the body receives the proper Qi flow 3
times. Consequently, each posture affects
certain organs. The postures can be
taken out of the form and used to diagnose and treat diseases. The deadly strikes to the acupuncture points
hidden in the form can be done gently to treat diseases.
Nearly
everyone who learns a long Yang form rarely practices a short version
again. Perhaps this a message from the
body about the health benefits of the long form.
The forms that have been studied are like the Cheng
Man Ching short Yang form. They combine
slow, controlled movement with regular, calm breathing. Anyone who can walk,
regardless of age, can learn and do these slow forms. You don't need special
clothing or to practice in a particular place.
Slow Yang style Tai Chi is gentle, fun and easy to do.
There are no jumps or aerobic-dance movements. Tai Chi movements consist of
using the legs to shift and balance weight while raising and lowering the arms
in various movements. The forms consist of a series of choreographed steps
always done the same way. A series can be quite complex and take years to learn
correctly.
Tai Chi explores the principles of balance, which
includes posture and joint work at the ankle, knee and hip. This leads to a
better sense of body awareness, balance, and motor control. This improves the ability to stand and walk
- important as we age and lose some of ourr physical skills. Elder people who practice Tai chi have been
shown to fall less and so are less susceptible to hip fractures, a major problem
for seniors.
One goal of Tai Chi is to create a calm mind focused
on the execution of the exercises, which is a great method of stress
reduction.
One of the most unusual results of slow-moving Tai Chi
is its aerobic benefit. Numerous
studies, since 1975, show that 20 minutes of Tai Chi gives participants 80
percent of the same cardiovascular benefit as aerobics.
A 2001 study reported in the Annals of Behavioral
Medicine found that Tai Chi could increase immunity, reduce stress, alleviate
gastric problems, hypertension and other ailments.
These gentle movements, coupled with concentration and
inner awareness are, according to Chinese medicine, one of the keys to natural
health and immunity to degenerative diseases.
In traditional Chinese medicine health is a result of well-balanced Chi
(internal energy). The movements help
balance your Chi. In fact, each movement influences certain internal organs and
improves their function.
Besides helping us as we age, Tai Chi can help people
recover from illness. In 1999, the British Medical Association's Postgraduate
Medical Journal found that it could help heart attack victims recover faster.
The deliberate movements and controlled breathing lowered blood pressure and
slowed some people's heart rates. Some of the heart attack victims participated
in aerobic exercises and others performed Tai Chi. Both forms of exercise
reduced blood pressure, but only Tai Chi showed a significant reduction,
according to the study.
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Tai Chi for Arthritis - proven to be
effective and safe |
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A recent study
by Korean national university was presented at the America College of Rheumatology (ACR)
annual scientific meeting (the biggest scientific meeting in this field with
8,000 rheumatology professionals attending each year) in November 2001. This
study compare the "Tai Chi for Arthritis" program with a control
group and came out with very positive results: "Abstract Preview: 80146 from ACR [20431 EFFECTS OF 12 WEEK TAI CHI
EXERCISE ON PAIN, BALANCE, The Sun style Tai Chi exercise had been
modified specifically for arthritis patients in order to reduce their
symptoms and to improve physical fitness and functioning. This randomized
study examined the changes in pain, balance, muscle strength and physical
functioning in older osteoarthritis patients at the completion of 12 week Tai
Chi exercise. The patients with osteoarthritis who signed the consent form
were randomly assigned into two groups. 17 experimental subjects and 14
comparisons completed pretest and posttest measures at 12-week interval with
28% of dropout rate. Outcome measures were physical fitness and muscle
strength, and physical functioning. Data were entered and analyzed by SPSSWIN
10.0 program. Independence t-test was utilized to examine group differences.
The homogeneity test confirmed that there was no significant group difference
in demographic data and pretest measures. The subjects were 64 years of age
and have been diagnosed for 9.4 years in average. Most of them were still
married (72%), and doing none (59%) or very seldom exercise (23%) previously.
30.2% of the subjects quit the job due to their illness. At the completion of
12 week Tai Chi exercise, the experimental group reported significantly less
pain and fewer difficulties in activities of daily living. The Tai Chi
exercise group showed significant improvement in physical functioning while
the comparison group reported no change or even worse physical functioning
after 12 weeks. In physical fitness test, there were significant improvements
in abdominal muscle strength and balance for the Tai Chi group than the
comparison group. No significant differences were found in flexibility, upper
muscle or knee muscle strength. In conclusion, Sun style Tai Chi exercise was
safely applied to the older Osteoarthritis patients for 12 weeks, and the
effects on symptoms, balance, and physical functioning were supported by the
results. |
American Chiropractic Association Recommends Tai Chi for Osteoporosis
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - The
American Chiropractic Association (ACA) recently recommended Tai Chi as a
beneficial strength training exercise system for those suffering from osteoporosis.
The ACA said that even those with severe osteoporosis who have suffered
fractures would benefit from Tai Chi exercise.
"Osteoporosis is a
chronic, progressive condition that steals bone from the body, leading to
fractures of the hip, spine and wrist,' said ACA national spokesperson, Dr.
Jerome McAndrews. Older people can suffer disability and even death from
osteoporosis- related fractures." The ACA says that an estimated
20-millionAmerican women suffer from osteoporosis, and 80 % of them don't even
know it. According to the association, one in two women and one in eight men
will suffer from an osteoporosis related fracture in his or her lifetime.
Tai Chi Study Very Positive For Elderly Practitioners
TAIWAN - Exercise physiologists
in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at National Taiwan
University Hospital and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei studied the
effects of a yang-style Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) program on the fitness of older
individuals.
Previous studies have shown
that Tai Chi can improve balance and coordination and decrease the frequency of
falls in the elderly. This latest study, however, is among the first to
demonstrate a significant increase in measured aerobic capacity in this population.
Tai Chi, with its gentle and graded intensity, may be an ideal form of exercise
for older persons. These results were
published in the Medicine & Science in Sports& Exercise Journal as
"12-Month Training in, the Elderly. Its Effect on Health Fitness' and are
summarized below.
The study was completed by 38
community-dwelling people ages 58 to 70. The Tai Chi group consisted of nine
men and 11 women; the control group included nine men and nine women. The
exercise group practiced Tai Chi three to five times a week for approximately a
year. Each session included a 20-minute warm-up, 24 minutes of Tai Chi practice
and a 10-minute cool-down. Each Tai Chi set included 108 postures.
The exercise intensity was 52
to 63% of heart rate maximum. Cardiorespiratory function (VO2 max),
thoracic/lumbar flexibility, knee extensor and knee flexor strength, and
percent body fat (%BF) were evaluated at the start and end of the study.
Among the men in the Tai Chi
group, V02 max increased by 16.1% (p < .01). Among the women in the Tai Chi
group, V02 max increased by 21.3% (p < .01). Changes in body fat
percentages were not significant for either men or women in the Tai Chi group.
Members of the control group showed no significant changes in any of the
variables measured. The researchers concluded that a 12-month Tai Chi program
provides fitness benefits for the elderly.
The report suggested that
interested participants should learn directly from knowledgeable and
credentialed Tai Chi instructors, rather than using only video or text
instruction.
The following article might
be a partial western explanation why Tai Chi helps heart failure.
Leg Exercises May Help Heart
Failure Breathlessness
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Heart failure patients may be able to lessen their
breathing problems with exercises that strengthen the leg muscles, preliminary
research suggests.
The study of 25 men and women with heart failure found that those who trained
their leg muscles with supervised, low-intensity exercises saw improvements in
breathlessness--a common and physically limiting symptom of heart failure.
According to the study authors, their findings indicate the importance of
skeletal muscle, as opposed to the heart and lungs, in the breathing symptoms
of heart failure. Dr. Donna M. Mancini
and her colleagues at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York report
the findings in the November 6th issue of the Journal of the American College
of Cardiology.
Chronic heart failure occurs when the heart can no longer pump blood
efficiently enough to meet the body's needs, usually due to an underlying
cardiac condition like coronary artery disease. Shortness of breath, fatigue
and swelling around the feet and ankles are among the symptoms. Modest
exercise, under a doctor's supervision, is one of the ways heart failure is
managed.
In this study, Mancini's team tested the hypothesis that isolated leg
exercises--using light weights and resistance bands--can improve breathing
problems in heart failure patients. The researchers point out that such
exercise may change muscle metabolism in a way that lessens patients' feelings
of breathlessness.
They found that after 3 months of regular, supervised training sessions, the 17
patients assigned to the exercise group boosted strength and endurance in their
leg muscles. And both their perceived breathlessness and ratings of their
quality of life improved.
According to Mancini and her colleagues, this suggests that therapies aimed at
improving muscle function "may improve the quality of life and exercise
performance" in heart failure patients.
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of
Cardiology 2002;40:1602- 1608.
Since Tai Chi is an exercise
it can also reduce the risk of heart disease by the effects described in the
following article, which appeared January 2003.
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Exercise can act like a drug on the blood vessels, reducing the
risk of heart disease by literally getting the blood flowing, US researchers
said on Thursday.
It
works in a surprising way, reducing inflammation, which has recently joined
high blood pressure and high cholesterol as a leading known cause of heart
disease, the researchers said. The blood stresses the walls of blood vessels as
it passes over them, reducing inflammation in a way similar to high doses of steroids,
the researchers report in Friday's issue of Circulation Research.
"Inflammation
in blood vessels has been linked to atherosclerosis, a hardening of the
arteries, and here we see how the physical force of blood flow can cause cells to produce their own anti-inflammatory
response," Scott Diamond of the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for
Medicine and Engineering, said in a statement. "Conceivably, exercise
provides the localized benefits of glucocorticoid--just as potent as high doses
of steroids, yet without all the systemic side effects of taking the drugs themselves,"
added Diamond, who led the study.
"Perhaps
this is a natural way in which exercise helps protect the vessels, by
stimulating an anti-inflammatory program when the vessels are exposed to
elevated blood flow."
The
findings could help explain why exercise works so well to reduce the risk of
heart disease, Diamond said.
"We're
not talking about running a marathon here. We're just talking about getting the
blood moving at high arterial levels," he said.
Studies
in recent years have found that cells and chemicals linked with inflammation
can be found in arterial clogs, and much research is now focusing on ways to
reduce this inflammation. For instance, teams are investigating whether giving
patients antibiotics or anti-inflammatory drugs lowers their risk of heart
disease.
Diamond
has worked using human arteries in the lab but wants to move into animals to
confirm his hypothesis.
"Think
of blood flow as a stream--whenever a stream branches off you get small areas
of recirculation eddies or pools of stagnant water," he said. "These
same situations of disturbed flow irritate the endothelium
(the
lining of the blood vessels). When blood vessels branch off, all the arterial
flotsam--fats and activated blood cells--can clump and stick at these hot spots
for atherosclerotic plaque formation," he added. "Perhaps, elevated
blood flow may alter these disease-prone regions to relieve some of the
localized inflammation."
Another study of the effects of Tai Chi on blood
pressure and the heart appeared in the March 2002 issue of the Journal of
the American Geriatrics Society. Tai
Chi lowered high blood pressure. It was found that Yang style of Tai Chi
significantly reduced high blood pressure in overweight, hypertensive
individuals. The subjects in the research group were over 60 years old. They
did Tai Chi for 30 to 45 minutes four to five times a week. The researchers
found that, "Exercise intensity may be less important than other
factors." Because even though Yang style Tai Chi studied was low intensity,
it reduced high blood pressure as well or better than the more strenuous
aerobic exercise.
In another research study, 126 heart attack patients
(acute myocardial infarction), average age of 56 years, were randomized into
three groups: a Tai Chi group, an
aerobic exercise group and a non-exercise support group. They exercised 2 times
a week for 3 weeks and then once a week for 5 weeks. Only the patients
practicing Tai Chi showed a decrease in diastolic blood pressure. There were
significant reductions in systolic blood pressure in both exercise groups. This might indicate that Tai Chi has other
effects than those due to western exercise.