Tai Chi Research » Arthritis

Systematic review finds Tai Chi reduces pain in adults with lower limb osteoarthritis

David Bendall — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:52:03 +0000

A systematic review of studies investigating the influence of exercise programs on pain among adults with knee and hip osteoarthritis found that exercise programs based on tai chi had better results than mixed exercise programs, but without clear differences. The authors were able to retrieve 33 studies on the influence of different exercise programs on pain. While more research will be needed to clarify differences between exercise programs, it is interesting to note that tai chi stood out among the various programs which also included strength training aerobic programs, hydrotherapy and mixed exercise programs.

The investigators noted that despite exercise recommendations that exercise programs be used as pain therapy in patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis, few randomized studies have been done and that the structure of the exercise programs investigated were very heterogeneous.

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Tai chi benefits Fibromyalgia patients

David Bendall — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:24:02 +0000

Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston MA conducted a randomized trial to compare tai chi to a wellness education and stretching for fibromyalgia. 66 individuals with Fibromyalgia were randomly assigned between the two groups which both met for one hour twice a week for 12 weeks.

The patients in the tai chi group had clinically important improvements in the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, a commonly used questionnaire used in the evaluation of fibromyalgia patients. Individuals in the tai chi group also had clinically important improvements in quality of life with statistically significant between group differences in both the physical and mental components scores of the SF-36 health survey. Improvements were maintained at 24 weeks and no adverse events were observed.

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Pilot study finds suggests tai chi benefits individuals with rheumatoid arthritis.

David Bendall — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:09:15 +0000

Researchers at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston conducted a pilot study of twenty individuals with functional class I or II rheumatoid arthritis. Half of the individuals were randomly assigned to tai chi and half to an attention control group. Both groups met twice per week for 12 weeks. After 12 weeks there was a statistically significant difference in the number of individuals who achieved an American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20 response, with 5 of the 10 individuals assigned to the tai chi group achieving it compared to none in the control group. An ACR 20 response indicates that there has been a 20% improvement in a well-accepted set of signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis such as tender and swollen joints, pain, etc.

The tai chi group also had statistically significant improvements in measures of disability, vitality and depression. There were also signs of improvements in disease activity, functional capacity and health-related quality of life. The results of this study suggest that tai chi may be a safe and effective complementary treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

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Tai chi benefits individuals with Ankylosing Spondylitis

David Bendall — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:25:52 +0000

Researchers at the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine in Daejeon, South Korea published results in the December 2008 issue of Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine of a study that found that tai chi benefits individuals with Ankylosing Spondylitis. The study randomly assigned 40 individuals to two one hour sessions of tai chi for 8 weeks, or a control group. After 8 weeks the tai chi group had significantly lower disease activity and improved flexibility than the control group. The authors noted that effect size for disease activity was greater than found in previous studies of home exercise, conventional exercise, global posture re-education and NSAIDs.

Pain related depression is a major issue for individuals with Ankylosing Spondylitis. While there were improvements in depression compared to the control group in this study, they were not statistically significant. The authors noted that previous studies of tai chi for depression with similar durations and practice time failed to achieve statistically significant decreases in depression, while a study where participants had four tai chi lessons per week for 18 week did reduce depression levels in patients with osteoarthritis, indicating that training time and duration may be related to reducing depression levels. It will probably take larger studies or studies with additional tai chi training to conclusively demonstrate that tai chi reduces depression as well as lowering disease activity in individuals with Ankylosing Spondylitis.

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Article

Tai chi is effective in treating knee osteoarthritis

David Bendall — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:04:54 +0000

Researchers at Tuffts Medical Center in Boston MA published results in the November 2009 edition of Arthritis & Rheumatism of a study showing that tai chi is effective in treating knee osteoarthritis. The researchers randomly assigned 40 individuals with knee osteoarthritis to two hours per week of tai chi or two hours per week of wellness education and stretching for 12 weeks. At the end of the study patients who were randomly assigned to the tai chi group had significantly decreased pain and depression and significantly increased physical function, chair stand time, self-efficacy and health-related quality of life.

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Study finds decrease in pain and fatigue among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis after 12 weeks of tai chi.

David Bendall — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:16:10 +0000

Researchers at Daejeon University in Korea studied the benefits of tai chi for individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. 32 patients assigned to the tai chi group practiced tai chi for 50 minutes a week for 12 weeks while 29 patients assigned to a control group did not. Pain and fatigue significantly decreased in the tai chi group while balance increased.

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Pilot study of tai chi for fibromyalgia shows improvements in symptom management and health-related quality of life.

David Bendall — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:40:24 +0000

Fibromyalgia is a common musculoskeletal disorder associated with high levels of impaired health and inadequate symptom relief. Citing previous research that indicates that a combination of physical exercise and mind-body therapy is effective for symptom management, researchers at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, GA carried out a pilot study to investigate the effects of tai chi on fibromyalgia symptoms. 39 individuals with Fibromyalgia were assigned to 6 weeks of twice weekly one-hour tai chi classes. 21 of the 39 participants completed at least 10 out of 12 exercise sessions. Measurements on the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and SF-36 health survey showed significant improvements in symptom management and health-related quality of life.

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Study finds decreased knee pain and stiffness and improved physical function in elderly individuals with knee osteoarthritis.

David Bendall — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:34:51 +0000

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of tai chi in elderly subjects with knee osteoarthritis. Forty-one elderly adults with knee osteoarthritis were assigned either to a tai chi program, which consisted of 6 weeks of 40-minute group tai chi sessions, 3 times per week, followed by six weeks of home-based tai chi training, followed by 6 weeks in which they were asked to discontinue tai chi training, or transfer to a control group to attend six weeks of health lectures following the same schedule as the tai chi group, followed by 12 weeks of no activity.

Knee pain measured by visual analogue scale and range of motion and physical function measured by Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) were recorded at baseline and every three weeks throughout the 18-week study.

After 12 weeks the tai chi group showed significant improvements in overall knee pain, maximum knee pain and the WOMAC subscales of physical function and stiffness compared to baseline, while no significant changes in any outcome was observed in the control group. All improvements in the tai chi group disappeared after the 6-week detraining period.

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Study compares the benefits of tai chi, aquatic exercise, and a self-help program for patients with knee osteoarthritis.

David Bendall — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:21:05 +0000

This study compared the benefits of tai chi, hydrotherapy and a self help group for individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Fifty individuals completed the study. Both the tai chi and the hydrotherapy groups showed statistically significant improvements compared to the self-help group in a “difficulty of performing activities” measure, while the tai chi group also showed statistically significant improvements over the self-help group in knee extensor peak torque, knee flexor and stiffness measures. The authors conclude that tai chi may be more suitable than aquatic exercise in exercise programs for individuals with knee osteoarthritis.

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Tai Chi improves arthritic symptoms, balance and physical functioning in older women with osteoarthritis.

David Bendall — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:59:20 +0000

Seventy-two older women with osteoarthritis were assigned either to a 12-week Sun style tai chi program designed for people with arthritis or a control group. 22 individuals in the tai chi group and 21 in the control group completed both pre and post test measurements.

Based on the results the researchers concluded that older women with osteoarthritis were able to safely perform the tai chi program and that women in the tai chi group had significantly reduced pain, and improved physical function, balance and abdominal strength compared to women in the control group.

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