Tai Chi Exercises Aid a Host of Ills, Studies Say

The slow movement of tai chi exercises is showing promise in helping a variety of health conditions, including diabetes and blood sugar control and immune system support.

Four recent studies point to the ancient Chinese martial arts exercise as beneficial. Tai chi involves shifting your body weight in a series of slow, graceful movements called forms. Many of these forms are named for animals and are patterned after the ways in which specific creatures contort their bodies. For example, one movement involves lifting your arms in the same manner that a white crane spreads its wings.

Each form in tai chi flows smoothly into the next, which keeps the body in constant motion. It is known as a "soft" martial art, in which deep relaxation of the muscles is paramount. During tai chi, the practitioner breathes deeply and meditates by blocking out distracting thoughts.

In a study published in the March issue of Integrative Medicine Insights, researchers indicated that tai chi may be beneficial if performed regularly. The study itself showed no significant impact on blood glucose when 25 participants with type 2 diabetes took hour-long tai chi classes twice weekly for 12 weeks.

However, the researchers noted that the study included a small number of participants and nearly half (48 percent) failed to complete the program. Those who did finish reported lower glucose readings within two to three days of the exercise classes, but the levels returned to their higher readings prior to the next tai chi session. The researchers noted that additional studies with a larger group and classes taken more closely together might show glucose improvement. Regular exercise is considered a key factor in controlling glucose.

A different study, published in the March issue of Diabetes Care, found that the tai chi chuan form of the exercise may improve blood sugar control and boost immune system functions. Researchers from Taiwan studied 32 people who participated in three one-hour long tai chi sessions a week for 12 weeks.

Another study involved 72 older adults who met three times a week at Louisiana State University (LSU) to practice the martial art. Researchers found that the exercises improved peripheral neuropathy caused by type 2 diabetes.

Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage caused by uncontrolled glucose. Symptoms include pain, numbness and weakness in the legs and arms. Participants reported improved flexibility and sensation in their limbs and fewer incidents of accidental falls. Many stopped using walkers and canes after tai chi training.

Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) studied 112 adults ranging in age from 59 to 86 over a 25-week period. Half of the participants took the tai chi chih form of the exercise three times a week for 16 weeks. The remaining participants received 16 weeks of health education classes that included advice on stress management, sleep disorders and diet.

Both groups were then given vaccinations for shingles, a skin rash that consists of small red pimples caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) -- the same virus that causes chickenpox. Shingles most often affects adults aged 55 and older. This may be due to a breakdown in VZV immunity as people age, though it may occur in relation to a number of factors, including stress.

The UCLA researchers found that by the end of the 25-week study period people who received tai chi instruction had immunity to the virus that was twice the level of participants who took only health education classes. The tai chi group also showed reduction in pain and improvement in movement, mobility and mental health.

Results of the UCLA study were published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The research was partially funded by grants from the National Institute of Aging and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.