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Tai Chi For Health

Both my parents are doctors, so from an early age I was the recipient of whatever pill, injection or potion that came on the market. This has given me a uniquely jaundiced view of the dark science of medicine and the shamans who practice it. The hands that heal are of value in a great number of instances, but in a number of others are either of little value or are even dangerous.

A couple of years ago one of my Chinese female students complained of stomach pains so her mother sent her to a traditional Chinese doctor who gave her bowls of a foul tasting potion to drink saying that the cause of her sickness was bad Chi. After a few days the pain got worse so I advised her to go to hospital. At the first hospital casualty department she was told that she was pregnant, which she wasn't; at the second they diagnosed acute appendicitis and operated the same day.

We have to consider that while an individual may be entitled to call himself doctor as a result of graduating bottom of his medical class thirty years ago from some God-forsaken university, this hardly puts him in the best position to provide his patients with treatment using the cutting edge of new technology.

As far as traditional Chinese medicine and alternative medicicne are concerned the picture is murkier still. At least with a properly qualified Western doctor you are sure that he has a certain basic knowledge and training. Often in Chinese stories and films there is the character of the itinerant traditional Chinese doctor. One of the reasons that some of these gentlemen were itinerant doctors was so that they weren't around to suffer retribution at the hands of unsatisfied customers.

Doctors on the whole take a dim view of martial arts injuries (it's your own fault), particularly if the patient is a hip young dude with an attitude problem and often advise complete rest where this is quite inappropriate. In fact the person with an attitude problem is the doctor as such advice is not only unhelpful and complacent, but in some instances woefully wrong. Fortunately a few more enlightened practitioners are more open minded about the benefits of exercise and there are now some sports medicine clinics around the country doing a good job.

I decided to write on this subject after chatting to one of my students, Dr. Mike Webb, who is a medical researcher. While helping me to research some material for my forthcoming book on the Tai Chi Chuan Classics, Mike came across some interesting studies on exercise in general and Tai Chi Chuan in particular and their effect on the body. I should add that I have certain reservations about some of the Tai Chi related studies, but I'll bring this up later.

Firstly I'd like to deal with material on exercise in general with specific regard to its effect on bones. The first study - of 39 postmenopausal sedentary, estrogen deplete white women aged from 50-70 years of age was made at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, Maryland. Twenty women were given five different high intensity strength training exercises two days per week for one year, while the other group were untreated. The study found that muscle mass, muscle strength and dynamic balance increased while bone density was preserved in the strength trained group but all these factors decreased in the untreated group.

Next was a study over 2 years of a 26 year old female by the Bone Research Group, UKK Institute, Tampere, Finland. After 1 year of lower limb strength training the subject injured a knee ligament and had to undergo 1 year rehabilitation. The study found that physical training has the potential to increase the mass of healthy bones. In contrast immobilisation, used as a treatment of soft tissue and bone injuries is shown to result in atrophy of these tissues.

Next comes a study of the effects of resistance training on prepubescent children. For 12 weeks 52 children were given the training which consisted of maximum sustained isometric contraction of elbow flexion for ten seconds. A control group of 47 children did not receive the training. Both groups after the 12 weeks showed increases in the cross sectional areas of tissue in the upper arm, however, in the control group this was because of an increase in fat area, while in the training group it was due to increases in muscle and bone area.

Finally an American review found that part of the reduction in bone density observed in older people is due to disuse rather than the aging process itself and that older people who have been active for many years seem to exhibit generally enhanced bone density.

Let's look now at specific Tai Chi based studies. The Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the National Taiwan University Hospital treated a group of 41 males and females aged from 50 to 64 years and a control group of 49 sedentary males and females. Tests found that the oxygen uptake, O2 pulse and work rate of the Tai Chi group were significantly higher than those of the control group.

An interesting study at the University of Connecticut, School of Medicine found that in a study of women aged 62-75 years, those who did only posture control exercises, including some simple Tai Chi exercises showed no significant difference in improved posture compared with a control group who did these exercises and some flexibility training as well. (i.e. as much benefit from Tai Chi alone in terms of improved posture as from Tai Chi plus flexibility training).

The Department of Health Sports and Leisure Studies at the Northeastern University in Boston compared the metabolic and cardio-respiratory responses to the continuous performance of Wing Chun and Tai Chi Chuan exercise. The study found that the ventilatory equivalent for for oxygen obtained during Tai Chi Chuan exercise was significantly lower than for Wing Chun exercise, suggesting that "Tai Chi practitioners utilise efficient breathing patterns during exercise". However, the study also found that only the continuous performance of Wing Chun exercise elicited values for oxygen uptake and heart rate responses that would be expected to bring about a cardiorespiratory training effect in subjects with with a relatively low initial value of oxygen uptake.

One of the problems with the last study is what do we mean by continuous practice of Wing Chun and Tai Chi Chuan exercise ? Both these arts have hard and soft elements there are many different approaches in both arts. For example typical Cheng Man-ching hand form is very understated while other styles like my own tend to be somewhat more vigorous and expansive. The vigorous and continuous practice of Tai Chi spear or Tai Chi throwing techniques would definitely cause a cardiorespiratory training effect.

So next time you feel below par, forget the Prozac, get yourself some Tai Chi Chuan training.