Saturday, August 21, 2010

Tai chi is found to relieve chronic pain

A posture from the Yang style tai chi chuan 
I took a brief course in tai chi this year. What I sudied is called Tai Chi Easy, because it has only five moves drawn from the many tai chi disciplines. It is a relaxing experience.

Now some researchers have found it to be a good treatment for fibromyalgia, a somewhat mysterious chronic pain condition. The New York Times reports:
A clinical trial at Tufts Medical Center found that after 12 weeks of tai chi, patients with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, did significantly better in measurements of pain, fatigue, physical functioning, sleeplessness and depression than a comparable group given stretching exercises and wellness education. Tai chi patients were also more likely to sustain improvement three months later.
Fibromyalgia is a complex and often-confusing condition, affecting five million Americans, mostly women. Since its symptoms can be wide-ranging and can mimic other disorders, and its diagnosis depends largely on patients’ descriptions, not blood tests or biopsies, its cause and treatment have been the subject of debate.
“It’s an impressive finding,” said Dr. Daniel Solomon, chief of clinical research in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the research. “This was a well-done study. It was kind of amazing that the effects seem to carry over.” 
More on the study:
The fibromyalgia study involved the yang style of tai chi, taught by a Boston tai chi master, Ramel Rones. Dr. Solomon and other experts cautioned that bigger studies with other masters and approaches were necessary.

Still, patients, who received twice-weekly tai chi classes and a DVD to practice with 20 minutes daily, showed weekly improvement on an established measurement, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, improving more than the stretching-and-education group in physicians’ assessments, sleep, walking and mental health. One-third stopped using medication, compared with one-sixth in the stretching group.

You can begin exploring tai chi here.

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