Fibromyalgia is a challenging disorder that can cause pain throughout the body, headache, fatigue, and decreased ability to concentrate. According to the Centers for Disease Control, it affects an estimated 5 million people nationwide (2005), the majority of them women. The cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, and it is difficult to both diagnose and treat. The CDC mentions that exercise can help, and now a study has shown that tai chi might be especially beneficial to those dealing with fibromyalgia.
The New England Journal of Medicine published the article, "A Randomized Trial of Tai Chi for Fibromyalgia" in Thursday's issue. In the study, conducted at Tufts University School of Medicine, 33 fibromyalgia patients participated in a structured tai chi program twice a week for twelve weeks. Each session lasted 60 minutes. The 33 patients in the control group participated in a basic stretching and wellness program.
In yesterday's Associated Press article, entitled, "Tai chi eases fibromyalgia symptoms, study finds", Marilynn Marchione reports that, "Symptoms improved significantly for the tai chi group and little for the others, as measured by a commonly used questionnaire. Improvements were seen in pain, mood, quality of life, sleep and exercise capacity, and remained at 24 weeks after the study's start."
As Marchione points out, some doctors are questioning whether the results might be contributed to the placebo effect. The researchers agree that these exciting findings warrant an additional study.
There are many tai chi classes available in the Denver area. The Tai Chi Project offers individual sessions in addition to group classes in Aurora, Wheat Ridge, Highlands Ranch, various locations in Denver, and more. You can drop in, or purchase various packages depending on how many sessions per week you would like to attend.
The Taoist Tai Chi Society will hold classes at its new location in Denver starting in September. You can register online.
Check out the class schedule at Wah Lum. You can take advantage of their free trial to see if you like it.
Although exercise can be difficult and painful to those with fibromyalgia, exercise could be the very thing to help ease that pain. Find out if tai chi could help improve your quality of life.
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