Tai chi is a form of exercise that began as a Chinese tradition. It’s based on martial arts and involves slow movements and deep breaths. Tai chi has many physical and emotional benefits.
Tai Chi was developed in China as a stretching, strengthening and a balancing practice. The practice puts profound emphasis on breathing, relaxing, and focusing the mind in specific postures. Shifting weight and moving the limbs are parts of Tai Chi which ultimately offers a series of benefits for you.
Benefits of Tai Chi
educes stress - One of the main benefits of tai chi is its ability to reduce stress and anxiety.
Improves mood - Tai chi may help improve your mood if you are depressed or anxious.
Better sleep - Regularly practicing tai chi may help you to have more restful sleep.
Improves cognition in elderly - Tai chi may improve cognition in elderly with cognitive impairment. More specifically, tai chi may help improve memory and executive functioning skills like paying attention and carrying out complex tasks.
Reduces risk of falling in elderly - Tai chi can help improve trusted source balance and motor function and reduce fear of falling in elderly. It can also reduce actual falls after 8 weeks of practice and significantly reduce falls after 16 weeks of practice. Fear of falling can reduce independence and quality of life and also falls can lead to serious complications. Tai chi may offer the additional benefit of improving quality of life and general well-being in elderly.
Decreases fibromyalgia symptoms - Tai chi may compliment traditional methods for management of certain chronic diseases. Tai chi practice can decrease the symptoms of fibromyalgia.
Decreases COPD symptoms - Tai chi may decrease some of the symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Safe for people with coronary heart disease - Tai chi is a safe form of moderate exercise you can try if you have coronary heart disease. Following a cardiovascular event, regular tai chi practices may help you to:
▫️increase physical activity
▫️lose weight
▫️improve your quality of life
While you might not expect it, Tai Chi is a common technique recommended to you as a form of physical therapy. This low-impact exercise is aerobic while also offering increases in muscle strength, balance, and flexibility.
Physical therapists are always looking for new recommendations for their clients who are recovering from injuries and illnesses. Finding a physical activity that not only appeals to clients but also keeps them safe is difficult. Tai Chi can be utilized by physiotherapists in a variety of settings. It is a safe and effective exercise which is of particular importance when treating patients with chronic pain.
Parkinson's disease patients can also be benefited from Tai Chi. Tai chi training appears to reduce balance impairments in patients with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's with additional benefits of improved functional capacity and reduced falls.
Tai Chi as a treatment for chronic pain demonstrates positive evidence regarding the effects of Tai Chi on chronic osteoarthritis pain and some beneficial evidences of Tai Chi for lower back pain and osteoporosis. The minimal valid duration of Tai Chi for chronic osteoarthritis pain may be 6 weeks and a longer duration of Tai Chi exercise may achieve more gains. Tai Chi also has an overall beneficial effect on balance, limb motor function, and walking ability among stroke survivors.
References
https://www.healthline.com/health/tai-chi-benefits
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4960454/
https://pdhtherapy.com/2017/12/5-ways-physical-therapists-use-tai-chi-for-rehabilitation/
Amal Adhithya
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