In a June, 2001 survey entitled "Tai Chi: Physiological Characteristics and Beneficial Effects on Health," J. Li, Y. Hong, and K. Chan with the Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, surveyed 31 original studies on Tai Chi in both Chinese and English that involved 2216 individuals. They came to the conclusion that Tai Chi Chaun was a moderate intensity exercise that was beneficial to cardiorespiratory function, immune capacity, mental control, flexibility, and balance control. They wrote also that it improved muscle strength and reduced the risk of falls in the elderly.
But in a February, 2004 survey entitled, "The efficacy of Tai Chi Chuan in older adults: a systematic review" Verhagen AP, Immink M, van der Meulen A, Bierma-Zeinstra with the Department of General Practice, Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam, The Netherlands found that in most studies, the intervention of TCC (Tai Chi chuan) is a modified Yang style, varying from 10 to 24 forms. The intensity of TCC varies from 1 h weekly for 10 weeks to 1 h every morning for 1 year. One study used falls as outcome measure and reported a beneficial effect of 47% in the TCC group. All studies mention a beneficial effect of TCC, but in most studies this conclusion was based on a pre-post analysis.
They concluded that there was "limited evidence" that TCC is effective in reducing falls and blood pressure in the elderly.
Then in another survey published on Oct. 18, 2010 entitled "Physical activity and cognition in older adults: the potential of Tai Chi Chuan," Chang YK, Nien YH, Tsai CL, Etnier JL with the Graduate Institute of Coaching Science, National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan County, Taiwan again found that the existent studies were limited.
"Based on the limitations of the extant literature, it is argued that future research in this area must provide more detailed descriptions of Tai Chi Chuan, particularly in terms of intensity and program progression. Consideration of the specific type of cognition that is expected to benefit is also encouraged, and approaches for further efforts to understand how Tai Chi Chuan affects cognition are recommended."
In contrast an April 19, 2010 study entitled "Community-based interventions to reduce falls among older adults in Taiwan - long time follow-up randomised controlled study," Huang HC, Liu CY, Huang YT, and Kernohan WG with the Nursing Department, National Taipei College of Nursing, Taipei, Taiwan found Tai Chi Chuan was able to improve gait balance significantly. Education may also help participants to prevent falls-by eliminating related risk factors present in their environment. However, it was found that at the one-year follow-up, any one of the three interventions had reduced falls significantly.
With regard to the relevance to clinical practice, they stated that the prevention of falls among older adults seems to need multiple interventions. Education plus Tai Chi Chuan has both an immediately and a long-term effect and it is possible that a shorter intervention period using this approach would also be successful
Finally in a recent July18, 2011 survey entitled "A Review Focused on the Psychological Effectiveness of Tai Chi on Different Populations" Long Zhang, Charles Layne, Thomas Lowder, and Jian Liu with the Department Of Physical Education, Shenzhen Polytechnic, Shenzhen 518055, China and the Department of Health And Human Performance, The University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-6015, came up with this recommendation:
"Despite the multitude of studies reporting positive psychological benefits of practicing TC (Tai Chi), TC has not gained universal acceptance in the culture of Western medicine as an effective alternative to more traditional form of exercise. A factor in this resistance may be attributed, in part, to the lack of scientific rigor in the experimental design of many of the studies reporting the psychological benefits of TC. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies should be concerned with experimental design, execution, analysis, and results reported by those researchers conducting TC- related research. In particular, attention should be paid to the training of the participants, qualifications of exercise instructors, the criteria for the inclusion and exclusion of the subjects, the inclusion of control groups, and the statistics used to evaluate the possibility of a successful TC intervention."
In their summary, the researchers were more positive about the psychological benefits of Tai Chi:
"This paper has summarized many of the studies that have included psychologically based dependent measures. The existing data indicates that the TC provides positive psychological benefits to its practitioners including children, teenagers, young adults, older adults, and those with a variety of chronic health conditions. These psychological benefits are reported to include reductions in mood disturbances, sadness, anger, and confusion, as well as improvements in sleep quality, mood states, happiness and overall psychological well-being. In conclusion, the literature suggests that TC is a valuable method by which to enhance or maintain a healthy state of psychological functioning for a variety of populations. However, future research utilizing rigorous scientific design principles is necessary to further document the positive psychological benefits of TC and to gain a greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying these benefits.
While the psychological benefits of Tai Chi are fairly evident, it is my opinion that Tai Chi practitioners must cross-train to a certain extent in order to gain a full range of physiological benefits.
We must remember that in earlier times even the great Tai Chi masters practiced external forms when they were young. Teenagers in Hong Kong often began with Choi Li Fut or Wing Chun. In Shanghai they began with White Crane or Southern Fist. In the North, it was Hop Gar or one of the many Shaolin animal forms.
In addition, the nei jia (internal martial arts) were not taught piecemeal as they are today in the West. A true internal martial artists practiced baguazhang and xing-yi along with Tai Chi. That went along with the three treasures: tai chi for softness, baguazhang for flexibility and xing-yi for jing. In addition baguazhang provided a higher degree of cardiovascular activity than Tai Chi and xing-yi provided resistance in the form of isometric contraction.
In my own practice, I try to do all three every day as well as weapons practice. I like working with a wooden broadsword because its weight offers further resistance training. In addition, I play basketball twice a week at my local LA Fitness for increased cardiovascular benefits and take Yoga classes there to improve bone health, structure and flexibility. I also do some limited weight training to prevent bone and muscle shrinkage.
At home, I wouldn't be without my TRX and mini trampoline. I can use my own body weight as resistance on the TRX, and the trampoline provides additional cardio work. I can use either one while I am watching TV or a DVD. I live in a very hilly area and go for long walks at least twice a week wearing a 20-pound adjustable weight vest.
Finally diet and supplementation are extremely important. You know the old adage: don't expect to get good stuff out if you put bad stuff in. I happen to be a vegetarian basically for moral purposes. However, you don't need to be a vegetarian to have a healthy diet. But you do need to cut out the junk food, the sugar, the sodas, the alcohol and tobacco. While recent studies have shown coffee to have some benefits, you should limit your intake to one or two cups a day. Also, find a good multivitamin with a complete spectrum of nutrients. I take Nature's Way Alive Once Daily for Men.
Here are some links to products that I use...
