Image courtesy of Gold Coast Tai Chi Academy
Tai Chi (Tai Chi Chuan) is known and practiced widely known for its health benefits. It is best known for its ability rated to improve the balance, agility and strength of the lower extremities, and has been widely studied for its effectiveness as a form of exercise for older people. In fact, there has been much research on Tai Chi and Qi Gong exercises, and both scientific knowledge and in all health conditions Tai Chi may be beneficial for cultivation.
As a physical therapist practice and teaching Tai Chi has been involved, I keep an eye on the research data Tai Chi and its benefits to the people, so you can use it to advocate for Tai Chi as a form of physiotherapy. What was interesting is the area of research is in progress, and health conditions that Tai Chi is said to positive results on the traditional fall prevention, various forms of arthritis, and the loss of state produce age. Conditions I do not think people usually associate Tai Chi as to influence the situation, much less to achieve positive results. Let me through these three conditions for your attention, you may not have been aware.
Tai Chi and breast cancer
For example, a recent study by Gala Tino and colleagues (1) demonstrated the feasibility of Tai Chi, the welfare of the survivors of breast cancer after menopause, the arthralgia (joint pain) as a side effect of inhibitors developed to improve prescribing aromatase (such as Aromasin, Femara and Arimidex ), to reduce estrogen production. The study showed statistically significant improvements in their test subjects for anxiety, depression, emotional well-being and fatigue and the sit-and-reach test and the statistical significance of the severity of the pain, wellness physical, the Berg Balance Scale and the Timed Up and-go test. This is important because, as the authors, there are very few interventions that have been developed to reduce the side effects to deal with this form of therapy after breast cancer, and therefore many cancer survivors Within non-use of their medications. If Tai Chi can reduce the negative side effects of this therapy is not only the physical well-being of people who can potentially increase compliance insufficient and improve medication the risk of survivors of the development of future complications to reduce.
Benefits of Tai Chi may have been highlighted on post-cancer symptoms who have experienced by many survivors of breast cancer by other investigators. Huang and colleagues (2) found that women with breast cancer who engage in physical activities such as Tai Chi and Qi Gong showed a proportional decrease in cancer-related fatigue compared to those without, and while Sprod colleagues (3) showed changes in markers including insulin, glucose and cortisol levels correlate with improvements in health-related quality of life, physical, social functioning and mental health in general. In general, the growing evidence that women with breast cancer - especially those who are post-menopausal - get a significant benefit from the regular practice of Tai Chi.
Tai Chi and Depression
Depression is a condition all too often health, and in many ways still in many societies manage mentally ill, and often found in patients, especially those who. Chronic pain Although it is difficult to studies that only the relationship Tai Chi can be examined on Depression to find, there are many studies in which depression was one of the measures in the context of the use of Tai Chi as a form of variable therapeutic intervention.
A chronic pain condition was also in relation to the effects of Tai Chi fibromyalgia is documented. An example of this is the search for Wang and colleagues (4), which measures a range of wellness-physical, mental and emotional indicators, including depression among participants who were devoted to twelve weeks of training Tai Chi. Not only show improvements in measures of depression at the end of the twelve weeks of training, but these improvements remained 12 weeks after completion of the training. Similar improvements have been in measures of mental health, such as depression, reports, described for breast cancer studies to suffer.
These results, the researchers and clinicians have on health led to professionals rely on patients to help the Tai Chi as a form of complementary therapy in order to get around to contend with issues such as depression. In his editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, Yeh and colleagues (5), the doctors asked to "prescribe" Tai Chi for fibromyalgia patients, while psychotherapists Mary Ann La Torre (6) advocates the use of body movements - especially Tai Chi as an opportunity to create change and improve healing in psychotherapy.
Personally, I am not only aware of the effects of Tai Chi on my mental health, I have patients with a variety of conditions in which depression was an element (eg, chronic pain, cancer and HIV-positive status was), all reported anecdotally improve their mental health and well-being began training Tai Chi. It would be interesting future research on the effects of Tai Chi focuses specifically on individual see mental illness such as depression, as these results likely to be transferable to a wide range of health conditions where depression is a factor.
Tai Chi and diabetes
Another condition, close to me, not only for their disproportionate impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait, but also because many people who are dear to me, either type I or type II have diabetes self-interest II., It is known that exercise is good for the administration of the two types of diabetes, the reasonably expected to provide similar benefits Tai Chi. What is in the business of research is interesting, however, that Tai Chi is not only for the constraints with diabetes advantageous as disabled due to peripheral vascular complications (7) also has an effect directly on the cell physiology. For example, several studies have shown that the practice of Tai Chi can increase the insulin sensitivity after a monitor and the levels of HbA1c (a better indicator of the level of blood sugar levels over time, as opposed to immediate blood sugar) (8), and increased levels and improve activity of regulatory T-cells (9), which improves the functioning of the immune system.
This is for people with diabetes, in the conditions, changes in the cellular level means better management of serious complications associated with diabetes, which in turn lead to a reduced risk of development or progression of secondary complications, such as peripheral vascular disease and neuropathy.
Do you have to do Tai Chi? Which means has Tai Chi improves your health and wellbeing? Please feel free to share your answers in the comments below.
Credentials
1 Gala Tino, ML, et al. (2013). Tai Chi for the welfare of survivors of breast cancer with an aromatase inhibitor associated arthralgia. In a feasibility study of alternative therapies in health and medicine, 19 (6): 38-44.
2 Huang, X., et al. (2010). Factors associated with cancer-related fatigue with breast cancer receiving endocrine therapy in urban environments associated with patients: a cross-sectional study BMC Cancer, 10: 453-459.
3 Sprod, LK, et al. (2012). Quality of life and health-related biomarkers in breast cancer survivors, the Tai Chi Chuan Journal of cancer survivorship. Research and Practice, 6 (2): 146-154.
4, Wang, C., et al. (2010). A randomized trial of tai chi for fibromyalgia The New England Journal of Medicine, 363 (8) :. 743-754.
May Yeh, GY, et al. (2010). Prescription of Tai Chi for Fibromyalgia - Are We There Yet the New England Journal of Medicine, 363 (8): 783-784 ?.
6 Torre, MA (2008). The role of body movements in the prospects of Psychotherapy in Psychiatry, 44 (2) :. 127-130.
7 Orr, R., et al. (2006). Reduction in type 2 diabetes mobility combination of power and effect of Tai Chi intervention Diabetes Care, 29 (9) of the muscle. 2120-2122.
8 Bronas, UG, et al. (2009). Other forms of exercise training as a complementary therapy in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes spectrum, 22 (4): Diabetes. 220-225.
9 Yeh, S., et al. al. (2007). Tai Chi Chuan exercise reduces HbA1c levels with increased regulatory T cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes decrease the population of type 2 diabetic patients Diabetes Care, 30 (3) :. 716-718.
