Tai Chi and Chronic pain (fibromyalgia)

Tai chi is a low-impact, slow-motion, mind-body exercise that combines breath control, meditation, and movements to stretch and strengthen muscles. The practice dates back thousands of years.

What does tai chi look like?

As you do tai chi, you move fluidly through a series of motions. The motions are named for animal actions, such as “white crane spreads its wings,” or for martial arts moves. As you move, you breathe deeply and naturally, focusing your attention on an area just below the navel. In the practice and theory of tai chi, this area is the body’s storage point for energy, or chi.

People typically attend tai chi classes once or twice a week to learn the postures, then perform them in class or at home. Sessions, which usually last an hour, begin with meditation and move on to the postures, which are done slowly. Body posture and deep breathing are key elements of correct tai chi. Regular, ongoing tai chi sessions confer the most benefit.

Health benefits of tai chi

On the physical side, tai chi supports or improves balance, coordination, flexibility, muscle strength, and stamina. On the mental side, tai chi helps relieve stress, improves body awareness and, when done in a group setting, reduces social isolation. Tai chi can be gentle or vigorous, depending on the style you practice (there are several different types).

Tai chi helps ease chronic pain

Some solid research shows that tai chi can benefit people with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, tension headache, and other ongoing, painful conditions. In one trial, for example, 66 people with fibromyalgia were randomized into two groups: one group took tai chi classes twice a week, the other group attended wellness education and stretching sessions twice a week. After 12 weeks, those in the tai chi group reported less pain, fewer depression symptoms, and better sleep than the control group. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

See the abstract below

N Engl J Med. 2010 Aug 19;363(8):743-54. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0912611.

A randomized trial of tai chi for fibromyalgia.

Wang C1, Schmid CH, Rones R, Kalish R, Yinh J, Goldenberg DL, Lee Y, McAlindon T.

Author information

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Previous research has suggested that tai chi offers a therapeutic benefit in patients

with fibromyalgia.
METHODS:

We conducted a single-blind, randomized trial of classic Yang-style tai chi as compared with
a control intervention consisting of wellness education and stretching for the treatment of fibromyalgia
(defined by American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria). Sessions lasted 60 minutes each and took

place twice a week for 12 weeks for each of the study groups. The primary end point was a change in
the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) score (ranging from 0 to 100,
with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms) at the end of 12 weeks.
Secondary end points included summary scores on the physical and mental components of the
Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36).


All assessments were repeated at 24 weeks to test the durability of the response.
RESULTS:

Of the 66 randomly assigned patients, the 33 in the tai chi group had clinically important 

improvements in the FIQ total score and quality of life. Mean (+/-SD) baseline and 12-week FIQ scores for the
tai chi group were 62.9+/-15.5 and 35.1+/-18.8, respectively, versus 68.0+/-11 and 58.6+/-17.6,
respectively, for the control group (change from baseline in the tai chi group vs. change from baseline
in the control group, -18.4 points; P<0.001). The corresponding SF-36 physical-component scores
were 28.5+/-8.4 and 37.0+/-10.5 for the tai chi group versus 28.0+/-7.8 and 29.4+/-7.4 for the control
group (between-group difference, 7.1 points; P=0.001), and the mental-component scores were 42.6+/-12.2
and 50.3+/-10.2 for the tai chi group versus 37.8+/-10.5 and 39.4+/-11.9 for the control group
(between-group difference, 6.1 points; P=0.03). Improvements were maintained at 24 weeks
(between-group difference in the FIQ score, -18.3 points; P<0.001). No adverse events were observed.


CONCLUSIONS:Tai chi may be a useful treatment for fibromyalgia and merits long-term study
in larger study populations. (Funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00515008.)



Sources

http://www.health.harvard.edu/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov