In the largest study to date of the Arthritis Foundation’s Tai Chi program, participants showed improvement in pain, fatigue, stiffness and sense of well-being.
Older adults also improved their ability to reach while maintaining balance, said Leigh Callahan,
PhD, the study’s lead author and professor in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
“Our study shows that there are significant benefits of the Tai Chi course for individuals with all types of arthritis, including fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis,” Callahan said.
Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology on 8th November 2010.
In the study, 354 participants were recruited from 20 sites in North Carolina and New Jersey and randomly assigned to two groups. The intervention group received the 8-week, twice-weekly Tai Chi course immediately while the other group was a delayed control group. All participants received baseline and 8-week follow-up evaluations. To be eligible for study, participants had to have any type of self-reported, doctor-diagnosed arthritis and able to move independently without assistance. However, they did not have to be able to perform Tai Chi standing. They were eligible for the study if they could perform Tai Chi seated, Callahan said.
Self-reports of pain, fatigue and stiffness and physical function performance measures were collected at baseline and at the eight-week evaluation. Participants were asked questions about their ability to perform activities of daily living, their overall general health and psychosocial measures such as their perceived helplessness and self-efficacy. The physical performance measures recorded were timed chair stands (which are a measure of lower extremity strength), gait speed (both normal and fast) and two measures of balance; a single leg stance and a reach test. At the end of eight weeks the individuals who had received the intervention reported less pain, fatigue and stiffness. They also reported an increased sense of overall well-being and showed improved balance, Callahan said.
Regular practice of Tai Chi has also been shown to help older adults rest easier at night, according to a study in the journal Sleep. Nearly two-thirds of people who learned the slow, gentle Tai Chi moves experienced significant improvements in sleep quality, compared to about one-third of those who participated in health education sessions that included information on how to get a better night’s rest. In fact, the benefits of tai chi were similar to those seen with drugs or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) according to top sleep researcher Dr. Michael R. Irwin of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Previous studies have shown that more than half of older adults experience sleeping problems at least a few times a week, Irwin and his team note in their report. While CBT can ease insomnia, few therapists have the training to offer this type of treatment, which is also relatively expensive. And while aerobic exercise can also help people sleep better, vigorous workouts aren’t an option for many seniors. “The other thing I thought was pretty remarkable in our study is how few dropouts we had in our study,” Irwin added, noting that just seven of the 59 people in the Tai Chi group didn’t complete the study. The study suggests that to help promote better sleep, simple Tai Chi movements coupled with breathing and relaxation may be one of the better forms of exercise to help promote better sleep.
Jim Concotelli, MSW, PhD, is a Wellness Consultant and Mayo Clinic Certified Wellness Coach.
Learn more about the predecessor of Tai Chi, Shaolin Rou Quan
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