Vol. 1 No. 1 August 2009
Hi Tai Chi fans and those wanting to know more about how Tai Chi effects various aspects of health.
Welcome to our first Newsletter on Tai Chi For Health. Each month, we will pick a different topic of health and gather the most up to date and highly respected health journals in the world on that subject and how it relates to Tai Chi.
This months subject is ARTHRITIS.
These Newsletters will not be another vehicle to promote myself. Although I have hundreds of students and patients who have benefited from my DVDs and clinic, I will limit these articles to the best solid research that is available today. Although testimonies by individuals has some merit, I feel there is nothing as compelling or convincing as a study conducted with hundreds of subjects and utilizing the many rigid standards and controls that are in use today. Most of the sources below are the most prominent journals on arthritis today. Several articles refer to other sources for more in-depth information on the subject so you will have plenty of information to keep you busy for quite sometime! Enjoy the sites below and don't hesitate to call me with further questions. (see above on he left)
thanks and have a healthy life
Mark
Can 'Chi' Ease Arthritis Pain?
By Elaine Zablocki
WebMD feature
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51766
In a 40-person study at Tufts University, presented in October 2008 at a meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, an hour of Tai Chi twice a week for 12 weeks reduced pain and improved mood and physical functioning more than standard stretching exercises in people with severe knee osteoarthritis. According to a Korean study published in December 2008 in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, eight weeks of Tai Chi classes followed by eight weeks of home practice significantly improved flexibility and slowed the disease process in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, a painful and debilitating inflammatory form of arthritis that affects the spine.
Harvard Medical School's Health Publications, May, 2009
New York (PTI): Suffering from arthritis? Try Tai Chi, a form of exercise which is regularly practiced in China, for a study says that it can reduce chronic pains.
An international team has carried out a study that found Tai Chi helps in mitigating the pain associated with problems like arthritis and lessen disability — in fact, it reduces pain with trends towards improving overall health...
"The fact that Tai Chi is inexpensive, convenient and enjoyable and conveys other psychological and social benefits supports the use this type of intervention for pain conditions such as arthritis," lead researcher Amanda Hall said.
Hall of George Institute in Australia and colleagues have based their findings on an analysis of systematic review and meta-analysis, the results of which are published in the latest edition of the Arthritis Care & Research journal.
Newswise - Tai Chi is effective in the treatment of pain and physical impairment in people with severe knee osteoarthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco, Calif.
American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 22-Oct-2008
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/545482/
Mean comparisons of the change scores revealed that the experimental group perceived significantly less pain in their joints and reported fewer perceived difficulties in physical functioning, while the control group showed no change or even deterioration in physical functioning after 12 weeks. In the physical fitness test, there were significant improvements in balance and abdominal muscle strength for the Tai Chi exercise group.
-- Journal of Rheumatology, 30, 2039-44
http://www.jrheum.com/abstracts/abstracts03/2039.html
Tai Chi helps cut pain of knee arthritis: study
(Reuters; October 26, 2008) - The traditional Chinese form of exercise known as Tai Chi can help reduce pain and physical impairment in people who have knee arthritis, researchers said on Saturday.
In their study, one group of people in their 60s with severe knee osteoarthritis performed Tai Chi for an hour twice a week for 12 weeks while a similar group did the same amount of conventional stretching exercises over the same period.
Those who did Tai Chi experienced greater pain reduction, less depression and improvements in physical function and overall health, researchers led by Dr. Chenchen Wang of Tufts Medical Center in Boston reported at a meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in San Francisco.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Peter Cooney)
All of the information above was gathered from: http://www.worldtaichiday.org/WTCQDHlthBenft.html