Dear all, welcome to the 43rd issue of the taichido newsletter.
Apologies for the absence of last month’s offering,
but we decided to take a ‘summer break’ from
it – hols and all that. We are, however, very much
back. This month I take a look at current medical thinking
towards tai chi, and its implications in institutionalised
medical practice. Enjoy and have a happy August!
Best regards, Mark
webmaster taichido.com, taichidoshop.com, editor Taichido
Newsletter
Most of us do tai chi because we believe that it is good
for us. The physical effects of such a constant fluidic
motion we feel increases the range of our movements, helps
us relax and de-stress and obtain better balance and posture.
The breathing helps us slow down our central nervous system,
and encourages our body’s energy to increase its
flow through our meridian points. Some of us may not really
believe in (as I’ve heard it put) “the chi
energy thing” but most of us just accept that it
works, whether we believe in it or not. My acupuncturist
has told me that acupuncture (working directly with chi
energy flow through the meridians) has been successfully
practised on animals and babies, so that rules out psycho-somatic
effects (“if I believe in it, it’ll work”).
So is there really something in it, or are we all just
kidding ourselves?
There is a lot of evidence that tai chi helps strengthen
your balance, and the medical world is starting to take
notice. An increasing number of regional NHS (UK National
Health Service) trusts are including tai chi in their
programme of fall prevention, especially amongst the elderly.
An example is Oxleas NHS Trust, who in July 2005 organised
a series of events in Greenwich as part of National Falls
Awareness Day – and tai chi was on the menu. Blackburn
and Darwen councils in Lancashire co-run schemes for pensioners,
which include tai chi.
John Carvel, Social Affairs Editor for the Guardian on
wrote (November 3, 2004):
“older people in England should be offered tai
chi classes on the NHS to promote their physical and mental
wellbeing, the Government said yesterday in its first
blessing for public spending on the ancient Chinese form
of body movement.”
He was citing a progress report published by Stephen
Laydman (a health minister), who was reporting on services
for older people which are helping to increase longevity
and promote health and a reduction in age discrimination.
Ladyman wanted to offer a much wider and non-conventional
range of activities to make this work, including tai chi,
mountain climbing, and go-karting, and this was being
taken up by many local authorities and trusts. This is
not just a more liberal attitude towards alternative and
less-stereotypical ways of rehabilitation - It makes sound
economical sense: the National Health Service saved more
than a million bed-days in the last year as a direct result
of this – due to a major reduction in the number
of older people staying in hospital after they were fit
to leave, and a lessening in the number returns due to
falls.
Financial implications are often a significant factor
in the acceptance of alternative therapies. A recent study
(Wilson CJ, Datta SK: “Tai Chi For the Prevention
of Fractures in a Nursing Home population: an economical
Analysis”) was implemented in the US to evaluate
the “economic implications of implementing a tai
chi programme to prevent hip fractures in the institutionalised
elderly population. This was compared with the standard
approach of no excersise”. What was interesting
about this study was that the authorities had already
acknowledged that there was a beneficial effect on the
patients – but did its costs outweight the advantages?
The results were conclusive: tai chi is a feasible economic
prevention method against falls, where “the economic
benefits exceeded its costs”. Patient insurers,
in particular could see the financial benefits.
Another study concentrated on the benefits of tai chi
and chi kung for multiple sclerosis sufferers (N.Mills,
J.Allen (no relation), S.Carey Morgan:”Does Tai
Chi/Qi Gong help Patients with Multiple Sclerosis?”
1999). Multiple Sclerosis is a particularly nasty disorder
whose symptoms include muscle spasms, lack of sensation
in hands and feet, loss of balance, cognitive dysfunction
and fatigue, depression and even incontinence. Thought
to be an auto-immune disorder, the immune system attacks
the central nervous system, causing inflammation and damage.
While there is no as-yet known cure, physiotherapy and
occupational therapies amongst others have been seen to
help reduce the severity of the symptoms. What interested
Mills et al was that tai chi posture was increasingly
being proved to improve balance, posture, vigour and general
well-being – all things that you and me knew all
along anyway… According to other studies, tai chi
and chi kung improved flexibility, blood pressure and
muscle strength. How could this help multiple sclerosis
sufferers?
A pilot programme was created that did not attempt to
teach sufferers the complex forms that we practice over
longer terms, but rather excersises that are the root
of tai chi and chi kung, focusing on “the fundamental
principles of balance, movement, sensory awareness and
breathing that underly tai chi…”These exersises
were supplemented with audio visual teaching aids, and
advice on posture, breathing etc. Whilst the pilot study
was only a few weeks in length, the results were still
significant: Over the test group as a whole there were
“significant improvements in balance and depression…
Specific improvements for individuals were also reported
on a range of other symptoms including spasms, numbness,
bladder control and walking” The authors acknowledged
that according to many tai chi practitioners, the benefits
would build up after more sustained and long term practice.
The BBC recently reported on a US study of 30 patients
who suffered from heart failure, which found that regular
classes helped reduce heart failure and improved movement.
More than 80,000 people in the UK have heart failure,
which is a gradual decline as the heart loses its ability
to pump blood round the body properly, and the British
Heart Foundation found the study results very encouraging.
Cathy Ross of the BHF commented in the American Journal
of Medicine that “people with heart failure require
less strenuous exersise and sustained but gentle exercise,
which tai chi is, is ideal for them.” Directly quoting
from the BBC item: “Gloria Yeh, of the Harvard Medical
School, said she thought the non-strenuous, low impact
nature of tai chi was they key. “We found that tai
chi enhanced the quality of life and functional capacity
in patients with chronic heart failure who were already
undergoing standard cardial care”.”
If it’s that good, why can’t we get it on
the NHS? You cry. Well obviously now you can.
On a more personal note: For many years, I have been
a sufferer of ankylosing spondilyctus (spell that if you
dare), an auto-immune disorder where the immune system’s
antibodies attack healthy tissue causing inflammation
and subsequent crippling calcification of the bones, usually
concentrated in the upper or lower spine. Incurable and
extremely painful during ‘flare-ups’, with
side effects of chronic sciatica; current medical thinking
favours physiotherapy and stretching excersises to help
keep the back flexible, and drugs to relieve the pain.
This regime helped me keep to a minimum the physical damage
caused by the disease, but my upper body slowly locked
itself up; there was almost continuous sciatica, the drugs
ceased to be effective and my way of life deteriorated.
I could barely lean forward.
Already interested in tai chi, I began to practice more
seriously. I undertook a combination of tai chi (which
helped me centre myself, improve my posture and balance,
relieve stress caused by the constant pain and create
an increase of activity in my nervous system – chi
energy), acupuncture (which by the same principles, gradually
freed up my locked muscles), Bowen Technique (increasingly
used by acupuncturists (as with mine) in conjunction with
their acupuncture, a treatment that gently helps muscles
restore themselves to where and how they should be) and
a daily stretching regime to help keep everything flexible
and responsive. I have never looked back (excuse the pun)
and as my body freed up and became more able to respond
to the disease, so it diminished with just a few attacks.
Oh, and I can now touch my toes.
Mark Allen Aug 2005
Source material:
Guardian Unlimited: Tai Chi for pensiners gets government
backing
Oxleas NHS Trust, press release: Tai chi and line dancing
are on the menu for local older adults
Centre for Reviews & Dissemination: NHS EED abstract
20017675: Tai chi for the prevention of fractures in a
nursing home mpopulation: an economic analysis
BBC News online: Tai chi can treat heart failure 9 Oct
2004
N.MIlls, J Allen, S. Carey Morgan: Does tai chi/qi gong
help patients with multiple sclerosis?
