For Susan Hamadock, MA, LCSW-C, a tai chi instructor who has studied with renowned teachers Dr. Paul Lam and Dr. Roger Janhke, the recent study showing that tai chi offers better balance and function for Parkinson’s patients is no surprise.
Hamadock, who is the program director and founder of Silver Lotus Training Institute in Lewes, Delaware, just outside of Rehoboth Beach, has witnessed the benefits of tai chi among the Parkinson’s patients who attend her tai chi classes.
“There’s no question that they report positive outcomes from tai chi,” she said. “They really feel it helps them, particularly with balance and with a greater mastery of movement.”
New tai chi study
Hamadock’s comments were made a few days after publication of the new study that was conducted by investigators at Oregon Research Institute in Eugene. The study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In that study, 195 patients with varying stages of Parkinson’s disease participated in the randomized, controlled trial during which they attended one of three different 60-minute exercise sessions twice per week for 24 weeks: tai chi, resistance training, or stretching.
The investigators were mainly looked for changes in stability (balance) and secondarily at strength, gait, function, motor scores, and number of falls.
After six months, patients in the tai chi group performed significantly better than those in the stretching group in the areas of balance, strength, gait, and directional control, and also had a lower incidence of falls. When compared with the resistance exercise group, patients who took tai chi performed better in balance, control, and gait, and about the same in other factors, including incidence of falls.
The benefits enjoyed by the patients who took tai chi continued during three months of follow-up as well, indicating that tai chi has staying power.
Notes on Parkinson’s disease
Every year, approximately 50,000 to 60,000 new cases of Parkinson’s disease are diagnosed in the United States, joining the estimated 1 million people who already have the disease in America and the 4 to 6 million around the world.
People who have Parkinson’s disease typically experience four main motor symptoms, with the last one usually not present until the disease progresses. They are:
- Tremor or shaking when at rest
- Slowness of movement (bradykinesia)
- Rigidity or stiffness of the legs, arms, or trunk
- Difficulty with balance and a tendency to fall
Tai chi classes for Parkinson's
Back at Silver Lotus Training Institute, Susan Hamadock is making plans to hold tai chi classes specifically for Parkinson’s patients.
“Because tai chi is coming into popularity in the West,” she said, “a lot of people who have conditions like Parkinson’s are just finding out about it,” she said. Although some people with Parkinson’s try yoga, she said, that discipline typically requires people to hold a pose.
This is in contrast with tai chi, which involves gentle, slow, continuous movement. People with Parkinson’s have tremor, so holding a pose can be embarrassing. “When they take tai chi,” Hamadock said, “they are moving so they don’t stand out."
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