John’s Tai-Blog @ Camp Tai ChiTai Chi and anything I can relate to Tai Chi … like life

All I can say is that it has certainly helped my RA and not in a “small” way. Over the past few years of practice I have experienced great improvement. Joint pain, muscle pain, it is all better. Not only that, I’ve found I really love Tai Chi.I guess there is always something to be grateful for;if not for the RA I may not have discovered Tai Chi.

Greeny will probably tell you that it works, as it saved his knee, and saved him from a lifetime of surgery and ruined joints.

I think that the problem with these studies is that they look at something too specific, Taiji help the whole body not just the joints specifically, so you’re never ever going to get something specifically targeted for arthritis say.

It would be great if western medicine started to look at it from a TCM point of view (after all it pre-dates western medicine by a good few centuries) and conduct tests based on that theory instead as it also works.

Tannage the taijiquan dude’s last blog post..Yang Taiji 24 - Transition From White Crane to Brush Knee Twist Step

I’m not a fan of Tai Chi getting the credit. When Tai Chi gets credit for healing specific problems, the test usually revolves around simple, soft, easy breathing couple with moving. Tai Chi Chuan is so much bigger than this.

I guess the best part though: all the great marketing that comes from these studies, eh?

S.Smith’s last blog post..A Bit of Undaunted Silence

In specific response to this statement:

“I think the best way to see if these studies have any real meaning is to look at them as a whole. If all or most of these small studies form similar conclusions, then I image the statistical significance of them is greater.”

… I can say that this is not the case. Meta-analyses are popular ways of looking at the data and loosely identifying trends, but are ultimately no more reliable than their constituent parts. Garbage in, garbage out. And in the case of medical science, small studies are (if not exactly garbage) not that great.

However I do think the data so far justifies a larger study in the future.

But, like Scott said, marketing!

Best,
Kevin

I started training hard karate back in the 60’s , and have trained in Shotokan, Tang Soo Do and Go-Ju Ryu. 11 or 12 years ago I started on my Tai Ji Quan adventure, doing Yang Tai Ji (but very interested in learning Chen)..anyways, I still practice Go-Ju Ryu as I love the Go-Ju Kata and its a little easier on my old Knee’s. Ive had two knee operations,, when i was in my 20’s and 30’s. Through my practice of Tai Ji my knee’s still are working very well and seem to be improving although I beleive one, is beyond much repair,, but it dosnt hurt,, like it used to..so the Tai Ji I beleive is responsible for helping them. My next question is,, has anyone had any experience with Siatica and with Tai Ji helping with that particular problem. Mine started about a year ago,, usually comes and goes,, but latetly its been getting much worse, in the mornings it hurts like hell,, but usually by evening or early afternoon has subsided and I can practice my Tai Ji forms, with out any pain what so ever. Just wondering if anyone has had Tai Ji help with with..

Charles -
I’ve had sciatic pain off and on for many years. When I finally got a chance to practice regularly, daily, I was discouraged that it did not fundamentally improve. However: I focused for a long time on every aspect of “alignment” and balance exercises, and used many hours of standing just to watch, and observe. I also studied books about this, specifically by Will Johnson and Eric Franklin. It’s taken awhile, but the combination of this work has lessened the problem by 90%. What a relief! As far as I can tell, what I called “sciatica” was caused by my own mis-use of my body.

Kathleen,

There always does seem to be a silver lining and it’s not usually all that hard to find.

John

Tannage and Steven,

I would also prefer that Western medicine begin looking at the whole as apposed to only specific areas, but this appears to be the nature of the beast. I like finding these studies because they help bring people, who have a Western mindset, into tai chi.

Yes Steven, it is great marketing.

John

Kevin,

I’m certainly not a mathematician, and I too would love to see some larger studies. I still think though that the number of studies done, which pretty much agree with one another, show that tai chi is good for what ails ya. In either case you’re right… marketing, marketing, marketing.

John

Charles and Walt,

I have to agree with Walt that most of the problems I’ve felt in my body came from my own misalignment/misuse. Regarding Sciatica, I found a stretch that seems to help here. It’s a bit hard to describe, so I’ll do what I can to get a video up about it.

My studio is in the process of renovation at the moment so it may take me a little while. Walt, if you’d like send me a message from my main site: http://www.camptaichi.com/contact we can discuss it in the meantime.

John

Just a note,, just returned home from Tai Ji,, the siatica did not bother me at all at practice,, no pain at all now, its 2245 right now,, so in the morning I will see how it is..

hey, so i have bad arthritis and i really need some physical relief. I’m already on meds, but they take a while to start working, so anyone know of good relief?

Experimental,

Tai chi and chi kong can both be good for arthritis. If you’re in a lot of pain, chi kong may be the better option to begin with. I suffer from aches and pains for no apparent reason at times and there is arthritis in my family. Probably because I do tai chi regularly, and some chi kong, it always moves on through and a few days or a week later I feel fine.

John