Taichi: Health Benefits
Description
This article is from the Alternative
Medicine Therapies guide.
Taichi: Health Benefits
Tai chi can
be used as a preventive health measure, as a way to maintain good
health, or to help with a specific ailment. While tai chi cannot
cure disease, it is often recommended as a complementary therapy
to conventional treatment. Specifically, tai chi can be used to
help:
- Arthritis.
By strengthening the muscles surrounding an arthritic joint and
improving flexibility, tai chi increases range of motion without
causing pain. Although tai chi cannot treat bone and cartilage
damage caused by arthritis, it can lessen the severity and pain
of the disease when started early enough.
- Balance.
Research shows that practicing tai chi improves balance in older
people and thus reduces the risk of falling--a major cause of
death and disability in the elderly.
- Circulation
problems. Tai chi may enable the heart to pump more blood
with each beat, thereby improving circulation.
- High blood
pressure. A recent study done at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
revealed that tai chi lowered blood pressure almost as much as
moderate-intensity aerobic exercise in older adults who had been
sedentary.
- Multiple
sclerosis. Preliminary studies suggest that tai chi helps
people with MS to increase their physical functioning as well
as their mental well-being.
- Stress.
Although the evidence is limited, some studies have shown that
tai chi is as effective as meditation and walking for reducing
the amount of stress hormones in the body.
 
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