Tai Chi May Help Parkinson’s Patients

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) — Practicing the ancient art
of Tai Chi twice a week helped Parkinson’s patients improve their balance
and walking ability, a new study shows.

“Tai Chi has been suggested for a while [for those with Parkinson’s],
but it’s not been scientifically or clinically validated,” said study
author Fuzhong Li, a research scientist at the Oregon Research Institute
in Eugene.

The new research is published in the Feb. 9 issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine
. The U.S. National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke funded the study.

Li and his team compared the effects of Tai Chi with resistance
training and stretching. They randomly assigned 195 patients with mild to
moderate Parkinson’s to one of the three groups. Every patient put in
60-minute sessions twice a week for 24 weeks.

Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative brain disorder, affects about
1 million people in the United States, according to the National Parkinson
Foundation. It typically progresses slowly, but as it does the ability to
control movement declines and symptoms such as tremors, muscle stiffness
and instability appear. Physical activity is known to help slow this
deterioration of motor function.

The researchers looked at changes in what is called postural stability,
which is important to maintain balance. They also looked at how the
patients walked and their physical strength.

“Tai Chi did better in comparison to resistance training and stretching
in terms of improvement in balance and walking ability,” Li said.

It was better than stretching and equal to resistance training at
reducing the number of falls, Li found.

Tai Chi includes gentle physical exercise and stretching. The postures
or movement are done in a slow, graceful way. During a session, the body
stays in motion as one movement flows into the next.

Other studies looking at Tai Chi for Parkinson’s have also found
benefit; Li’s team found the benefits were maintained three months
later.

The study reveals some important benefits of Tai Chi for walking and
balance difficulties, said Dr. Michael Okun, national medical director of
the National Parkinson Foundation.

“Tai Chi incorporates movement forms that are focused on improving
concentration, awareness of the environment, large stepping and enhanced
balance control,” he said. “Therefore, it would make sense that this type
of tailored therapy could be better on balance measures when compared to
resistance training or stretching.”

“It is however important that people reading the study understand that
resistance training and stretching are both also beneficial in Parkinson’s
disease, but the right therapy has to be chosen for the right patient,” he
added.

Previous Tai Chi studies, he said, “have not shown the same levels of
benefit in PD and one wonders whether it was the outcome measure they
chose [balance] or the way they delivered the therapy. In science,
replication is very important and it will be critical for other groups to
replicate these potentially important findings.”

Li said that Parkinson patients wanting to try Tai Chi should ask their
doctors to refer them to a physical therapist familiar with the exercise
so the therapist can give them home exercises to do. That, or a class,
would be better than simply getting a DVD and teaching yourself, he said,
because the instruction allows the exercise to be tailored to the patient
and their symptoms.

More information

For more on Parkinson’s disease go to the National Parkinson
Foundation.

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