Tai Chi Research » Vitality

Tai chi beneficial for older women with osteopaenia.

David Bendall — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:09:02 +0000

A randomized trial carried out by researchers at Texas Tech University found that 24 weeks of tai chi improved general health, vitality, and stride width while decreasing pain compared to a control group. The study involved randomly dividing 61 females aged 65 plus with low bone mass into two groups. The first group practiced tai chi three times per week one hour per session for 24 weeks. The other group was a control group who did not receive tai chi training.

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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 is found to augment the immune response to the varicella zoster virus.

David Bendall — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:38:58 +0000

Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles studied the effects of tai chi on resting and vaccine-stimulated levels of cell-mediated immunity to the varicella zoster virus and on health functioning in older adults. 112 healthy adults over aged 59 to 86 were randomly assigned to receive 25 weeks of tai chi or health education. After 16 weeks both groups were vaccinated with the VARIVAX vaccine, which is licensed to prevent varicella, the virus that causes shingles. The tai chi group was found to have significantly higher levels of varicella cell-mediated immunity than the health education group. Tai chi alone induced an increase in varicella cell-mediated immunity that was comparable in magnitude with that induced by the varicella vaccine alone. The combination of tai chi and vaccine resulted in a substantially higher cell-mediated immunity than the vaccine alone. The tai chi group also had significant improvements in several secondary measures; physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality and mental health.

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Pilot study of stress management via tai chi shows significant benefits.

David Bendall — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:00:15 +0000

Researchers at the Coburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany conducted an 18-week pilot study to investigate the clinical effects of tai chi in young adults related to stress management. The researchers measured physiological indicators of stress, blood pressure, heart rate and saliva cortisol and psychological measures including the SF-36 health survey and perceived stress. The study was non-randomized and there was no control group. Of the 21 individuals who enrolled in the study only 9 completed all measurements. Even so there were reductions in saliva cortisol, an indicator of general stress reduction. There was also a highly significant decrease in perceived mental stress as well as several significant improvements in measures from the SF-36 health survey including general health perception, social functioning, vitality and mental health/psychological well-being. The study found that subjective health increased and stress decreased during tai chi. Future studies with more rigorous methodology will be needed to confirm these observations.

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