T’ai chi of some good for chronically ill
BMJ
18 Sep 15
T’ai chi can improve physical performance of patients with certain chronic conditions without exacerbating their pain or making them breathless, concludes...
T’ai chi can improve physical performance of patients with certain chronic conditions without exacerbating their pain or making them breathless, concludes a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.(1)
The Chinese martial art t’ai chi consists of slow, gentle, and flowing movements that involve strengthening, balance, postural alignment, mind concentration, relaxation, and breath control.
Canadian researchers examined the current evidence on the effectiveness of t’ai chi in people with breast cancer, osteoarthritis, heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. They found 33 randomised controlled trials, with a total of 1584 participants, that met the inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis included 21 of these studies.
The average age of participants ranged from the mid-50s to the early 70s. The average length of the t’ai chi training programmes was 12 weeks, with most individual sessions lasting an hour. Training in t’ai chi was usually offered two or three times a week.
For all four conditions t’ai chi, when compared with other interventions or a control group, was found to improve results in the six minute walking test. T’ai chi also improved knee extensor muscle strength in participants with heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but showed only a tendency to improvement in participants with osteoarthritis. It was not measured in patients with breast cancer.
T’ai chi was also associated with an improvement in symptoms of pain and stiffness in patients with osteoarthritis and in breathlessness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It was also associated with improved sit to stand times in patients with osteoarthritis.
However, the meta-analysis had some limitations. Only studies in English were included, and with the exception of osteoarthritis trials there were few randomised controlled trials. Sample sizes tended to be small, which meant that the studies had limited power.
The researchers concluded that t’ai chi “demonstrates improvement in functional exercise capacity in individuals with different chronic conditions without aggravating symptoms of pain and dyspnoea.” They added that it could be a suitable exercise to prescribe to people with several comorbidities.
By Jacqui Wise, London
(1). Chen Y, Hunt M, Campbell K, et al. The effect of tai chi on four chronic conditions—cancer, osteoarthritis, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and meta-analyses. Br J Sports Med 17 Sep 2015, doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2014-094388.
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