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T'ai chi has particular health benefits for older people, including
helping to prevent falls and improving mental wellbeing, reveals a
review published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports
Medicine.
But the Chinese martial art widely practised for its health benefits
does not help improve the symptoms of cancer or rheumatoid arthritis
and the evidence is contradictory for many other health conditions and
symptoms.
The effectiveness of t'ai chi for a variety of medical conditions and
symptoms has been assessed in several studies and reviews, but their
findings have been contradictory, so researchers from Korea Institute
of Oriental Medicine in South Korea and the University of Exeter in
the UK decided to compare the conclusions of these reviews to gain a
better understanding of the benefits of t'ai chi.
Thirty five relevant reviews assessing t'ai chi were identified from
English, Chinese and Korean databases. They looked at the
effectiveness of the technique in a variety of disease areas,
including cancer, Parkinson's disease, musculoskeletal pain,
osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, high
blood pressure, osteoporosis and type 2 diabetes. Some reviews also
assessed the benefits of t'ai chi for psychological health, balance
and fall prevention, muscle strength and flexibility and improving
aerobic capacity.
For several conditions, the findings of the reviews were
contradictory. However, there was relatively clear evidence that t'ai
chi is effective for fall prevention and improving psychological
health and was associated with general health benefits for older
people. On the other hand, t'ai chi seemed to be ineffective for the
symptomatic treatment of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. The authors
conclude: "Our overview showed that t'ai chi, which combines deep
breathing and relaxation with slow and gentle movements, may exert
exercise-based general benefits for fall prevention and improvement of
balance in older people as well as some meditative effects for
improving psychological health. We recommend t'ai chi for older people
for its various physical and psychological benefits. However, t'ai chi
may not effectively treat inflammatory diseases. "
Source
British Journal of Sports Medicine
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