Tai chi and other traditional Chinese exercises may benefit people with heart disease, researchers report.
The new review of 35 studies included more than 2,200 people in 10 countries. The investigators found that, among people with heart disease, these types of low-risk activities appeared to help lower blood pressure and levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and other unhealthy blood fats.
Tai chi, qigong and other traditional Chinese exercises were also linked to improved quality of life and reduced depression in heart disease patients, the study authors added.
But the exercises did not significantly improve heart rate, aerobic fitness levels or general health scores, according to the report published March 9 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Traditional Chinese exercises are a low-risk, promising intervention that could be helpful in improving quality of life in patients with cardiovascular diseases — the leading cause of disability and death in the world,” study co-author Yu Liu, said in a journal news release.
“But the physical and psychological benefits to these patients of this increasingly popular form of exercise must be determined based on scientific evidence,” added Liu. He is dean of the School of Kinesiology at Shanghai University of Sport in China.
The association reported in the study doesn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship between activities such as tai chi and improved heart health.
But, the researchers said they plan to conduct randomized, controlled trials — the gold standard for scientific research — to review the effect of different types of traditional Chinese exercises on chronic diseases.
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Tai Chi and Its Benefits Taichi is often referred to as “meditation in motion” requiring concentration and accompanied by deep breathing. It consists of graceful, flowing movements and postures that transition smoothly into each other without pause.
As the world’s population ages, exercise has become increasingly important as a tool to prevent and manage the chronic illnesses that are affecting larger portions of society. Tai Chi (also known as Shadow Boxing) has evolved from its original ancient Chinese form of self-defense to a modern-day, gentle form of exercise and stretching.
It is often referred to as “meditation in motion” requiring concentration and accompanied by deep breathing. It consists of graceful, flowing movements and postures that transition smoothly into each other without pause.
About Tai Chi
Tai Chi is grounded in the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism. This philosophy emphasizes the natural balance in all things and encourages spiritual and physical harmony with nature. It surrounds the relationship of perpetual balance between the two opposing but complementary elements of yin and yang. The effectiveness of the Tai Chi exercises is believed to lie in the perfect balance between yin and yang.
There are varying styles of Tai Chi based on its different principles and methods. While some styles focus on the healthful aspects, others are more concerned with the traditional martial arts aspects of Tai Chi.
Benefits of Tai Chi
It is considered safe for all fitness levels and ages, due to the fact that it is low impact with minimal stress on muscles and joints.
Taichi has been shown to reduce joint pain.
Taichi requires no specialized equipment and is therefore an inexpensive form of exercise.
It may be done anywhere and at any time, whether alone or as part of a group.
Tai Chi improves your mood and helps to a decrease anxiety, depression and stress.
A regular practice of Tai Chi movements improves muscle definition and strength with consequent increases in stamina and energy.
Persons who practice this form of exercise experience improvements in their agility, balance and flexibility.
Taichi is shown to increase aerobic capacity of the maximum amount of oxygen the body is able to use during physical activity.
It is believed that Tai Chi can contribute to a better quality of sleep, leaving practitioners feeling more rested and rejuvenated.
Taichi has been said to help lower blood pressure and as such aids overall heart health.
The immune system is boosted by the practice of Tai Chi, making those who practice it benefit from greater general wellness.
Tai Chi is practiced worldwide by as many as 300 million people. It is considered as an effective approach to maintaining health and improving the quality of daily life.
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Tai chi produces the same benefits as physical therapy for patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis, according to a new study by researchers at the Tufts School of Medicine.
The study, led by Chenchen Wang, a professor at the School of Medicine, focused on osteoarthritis patients who reported significant pain. The average participant was 60 years old, and many were obese. “This was a really representative sample of patients we see in our clinical practice at Tufts Medical Center every day,” says Wang, director of the Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Tufts Medical Center.
Wang defines tai chi in her studies as a multi-component traditional Chinese mind-body practice that combines meditation with slow, gentle, graceful movements, deep diaphragmatic breathing, and relaxation.
Patients were randomly assigned to either do tai chi twice a week for 12 weeks with an instructor with 10 to 30 years of experience, or undergo physical therapy twice a week at Tufts Medical Center for six weeks and then do six weeks of exercise at home. At the end of the 12 weeks, the tai chi and physical therapy groups reported equal improvement in pain and related health outcomes, effects that remained 52 weeks after the start of the study.
“Six weeks is very expensive with a physical therapist,” says Wang, who is a member of the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health
at the National Institutes of Health. By comparison, “tai chi is relatively cheap, and you can get it in a lot of places,” she notes.
The effects were the same across the four tai chi instructors, she adds, showing the protocol is easy to learn and perform successfully. “Everyone can do this,” she says.
Further, the tai chi group showed significantly more improvement than the physical therapy group when it came to depression and quality of life. “By integrating physical, psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and behavioral elements, tai chi may systematically promote health by its effect on both the body and the mind,” according to the study, which was published online May 17 in advance of print publication in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
“These people never knew what tai chi was. But when we brought them to the tai chi room at Tufts Medical Center week by week, we saw them changing to become happier, healthier people,” says Wang, who watched patients’ progress on video. “It was very exciting to see every day.”
The study conclusion: “Standardized tai chi should be considered as an effective therapeutic option for knee osteoarthritis.”
Rise of Integrated Medicine
Times have certainly changed since Wang conducted her first study in 2008 at Tufts showing that tai chi alleviates pain in knee osteoarthritis patients. For that research, the 40 patients and single instructor practiced the ancient Chinese martial art in a conference room. “When there were meetings, patients would stand outside and wait,” says Wang.
Her most recent study was a different story. It included 204 patients and four instructors, the largest group in any tai chi study, and they practiced in a dedicated tai chi room.
Wang has seen a greater accommodation in the medical world’s attitude toward tai chi as well. “After 10 to 20 years doing this work, I think integrated medicine is becoming popular now,” Wang says. “Everyone realizes its importance.”
Now Wang is planning on studying the mechanism by which tai chi produces its benefits. She has been conducting brain imaging studies to more closely examine the biological psychology and social aspects of the treatment, and also will estimate the net health-care spending reduction of offering tai chi as an alternative to physical therapy.
Tai chi could benefit more than just osteoarthritis patients, says Wang. She has also found that it promotes cardiovascular fitness and reduces pain associated with fibromyalgia.
“When I came to North America and I saw people use pain medication, I was so surprised. I asked, ‘Why would you use something like this?’” says Wang, who grew up watching her mother, a Chinese physician, rely on traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, combined with Western medicine.
“This is the main reason I became a physician and scientist, and I think more young people and health-care professionals should realize the importance of this field,” she says. “Complementary and integrated medicine is a big field now—whatever patients need, this provides the best care.”
Original article and pictures take www.corespirit.com site
Study Reveals How Chinese Skullcap Makes Anti-Cancer Compounds
A new study, published in the journal Science Advances, has revealed how the popular Chinese herbal remedy Huang-Qin (Scutellaria baicalensis) — also known as the Chinese skullcap — produces compounds which may help to treat cancer and liver diseases.
Chinese skullcap is cultivated in China, Siberia, Mongolia and Korea. It is an herb used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a variety of conditions including epilepsy, hepatitis, infections, and cancer. It is often used in combination with other botanicals such as PC-SPES and sho-saiko-to.
Previous research on cells cultured in the lab has shown that certain compounds called flavones — found in the roots of the Chinese skullcap — not only have beneficial anti-viral and anti-oxidant effects, but they can also kill human cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched.
In live animal models, these flavones have also halted tumor growth, offering hope that they may one day lead to effective cancer treatments, or even cures.
As a group of compounds, the flavones are relatively well understood. But the beneficial flavones found in the roots of the Chinese skullcap — such as wogonin and baicalin — are different: a missing hydroxyl (-OH) group in their chemical structure left scientists scratching their heads as to how they were made in the plant.
“Many flavones are synthesized using a compound called naringenin as a building block,” said study senior author Prof. Cathie Martin, from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK.
“But naringenin has this -OH group attached to it, and there is no known enzyme that will remove it to produce the flavones we find in the Chinese skullcap roots.”
Prof. Cathie and her colleagues explored the possibility that Chinese skullcap’s root-specific flavones (RSFs) were made via a different biochemical pathway.
Step-by-step, they unraveled the mechanism involving new enzymes that make RSFs using a different building block called chrysin.
“We believe that this biosynthetic pathway has evolved relatively recently in Scutellaria roots, diverging from the classical pathway that produces flavones in leaves and flowers, specifically to produce chrysin and its derived flavones,” Prof. Martin said.
“Understanding the pathway should help us to produce these special flavones in large quantities, which will enable further research into their potential medicinal uses.”
“It’s exciting to consider that the plants which have been used as traditional Chinese remedies for thousands of years may lead to effective modern medicines,” she added.
Original article and pictures take www.corespirit.com site
