Can Tai Chi help people with cognitive diseases?

A recent article published by American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias described a study guided by Sandy Burgener, a professor of nursing at the University of Illinois and lead author on the study.
In the study, 24 people with early stage dementia participated in an intensive 40-week program. The intervention included biweekly sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy and support groups, along with three sessions per week of traditional Chinese martial arts exercises and meditation, called qigong (chee-gong) and Taiji (tye-jee).

Participants in the program benefited in a variety of ways. After 20 weeks, those in the treatment group improved in several measures of physical function, including balance and lower leg strength, while those in the comparison group did not. There were also positive cognitive and psychological effects, Burgener said.

“We saw gains in self-esteem in the treatment group and pretty severe declines in self-esteem in the comparison group,” she said. “Those in the treatment group also had sustained and slightly improved mental status scores, which meant we were impacting cognitive function.”

To read more about the study click on the link

http://news.illinois.edu/news/08/1205dementia.html

Two More Qigong exercises for my students

Opening and closing wings like a dove:

Posture Checklist

1. Hold a 'balloon' in front just above the navel.

2. Shoulders always sinking down to the hip joint, elbows slightly lower than hands.

3. Feet under hips pointing straight ahead

4. Slight bend in the knees

5. "Sitting on an invisible high chair"

6 Lift from the crown ( back of the head) and slight tilt to the pelvis to drop the tailbone.

Active Movement:

1. Breathe in and expand the balloon, until the arms and shoulders fall back and down,

2. Feel the scapulae roll inward to meet each other. Breathe out slowly while relaxing this move.

3. Start to breathe in again slowly as you let the (still softly curved) arms come back to hold the balloon in beginning posture.

4. Breathe out as you press the balloon into your body and relax the shoulders and chest again and allow the chest to slightly sink inwards.

Repeat slowly 4 or 5 times taking rests frequently and shake out gently if you feel tension.

Press down behind neck and lift palms to touch the sky

Posture same as first exercise, Breathe as necessary do not hold your breath.

Active Movement:

1. Hold balloon under the navel fingertips almost touching palms facing up.

2. Raise the arms up overhead in this postition, palms facing the head arms curved ( like a ballet pose)

3. Press the palms down behind the head to the shoulders near the neck.

4. Uplift the palms and hold up the sky, elbows stay bent, try to drop the shoulders and breathe out here.

5. Pull the fingers straight up lifting the hands and bring them back to back , elbows still bent.

6. Open the curtains to shoulder width with the fingers, and then drop the shoulders, elbows and the fingers will slide down the curtains on either side of your body, right down to the floor.

7. Relax the arms, shoulders completely and then softly curve the arms to hold the balloon again as in beginning movement.

Repeat slowly 4 or 5 times taking rests frequently and shake out gently if you feel tension.

ARC Tai Chi Osteoarthritis Study

New study revealed last week at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, preliminary results that Tai Chi practice reduces pain in osteoarthritis patients. More research is needed, but this is an optomistic start to understanding some of the positive benefits of Tai Chi.



"Dr. Wang's group studied 40 patients who met ACR criteria for knee osteoarthritis and had a body mass index of at least 40 kg/m2.
They were randomized to a 12-week intervention of one hour twice a week with either group Tai Chi sessions or stretching exercises plus education on osteoarthritis, diet and nutrition, and physical and mental health.
The groups were statistically similar at baseline, although the control group tended to have worse osteoarthritis and health status.
By the end of the exercise intervention, the stretching group remained fairly similar to baseline with a decrease of just 38.5 points on the 500-point WOMAC pain scale (95% confidence interval -87.2 to 10.3) whereas the Tai Chi group had a 157.3-point drop in pain (95% CI -198.5 to -116.0).
Among the secondary outcomes, the findings for Tai Chi compared with the stretching control group at 12 weeks included:
Improved physical function scores (change -506.8 versus 182.2 on a 1,700-point scale, P=0.001)
Better self-reported global functioning (change -3.0 versus -0.8 on a 10-point scale, P=0.003)
Better physician-reported global functioning (change -3.2 versus -1.4 on a 10-point scale, P=0.0009)
Improved chair stand test time (-12.0 versus -0.9 sec, P=0.0005)
Increase self-efficacy (0.6 versus -0.1 on a scale of one to five, P=0.04)
Greater reduction in depressive symptoms (-7.4 versus -0.7, P=0.009)"



To read more of the article click on the title link above.