Tai chi relieves pain and improves mobility in people with knee osteoarthritis

Practice tai chi reduces pain and increases the ability to do activities that require mobility in people with knee osteoarthritisaccording to research conducted in Australia and published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Previous studies had already suggested that slow and low impact of tai chi are positive for people with osteoarthritis. But the difficulties in attending formal tai chi sessions prevent many affected people from benefiting from this type of treatment. exercise of Chinese origin.

To resolve this limitation, physiotherapy specialists from the University of Melbourne have designed a program based on videos and an app to do tai chi at a private level for twelve weeks without specialist supervision.

They have evaluated the effectiveness of this strategy in a study with 178 people with osteoarthritis. Photo: Pixabay

They have evaluated the effectiveness of this strategy in a study with 178 people with osteoarthritis. they had an average age 61 years old and two thirds were women. Most had no prior experience with tai chi.

Tai chi can improve joint mobility, muscle strength, balance and proprioception, says researcher Julia Zhu

Half of the participants were given only the usual information on osteoarthritis management, which includes recommendations on the practice of physical activity. The other half have also been offered the program with videos and the app to practice tai chi.

Twelve weeks later, 73% of people who had done tai chi had experienced a reduction in pain clinically significant. In the control group, the percentage of people whose pain had been reduced was 47%.

The results have been similar for the capacity of carry out activities. 73% of people who did tai chi improved their physical functions compared to 52% of the control group.

The results have been similar for the ability to carry out activities. Photo: Pixabay

Tai chi practitioners also reported better results in quality of lifeconfidence in the feeling of balance and physical and mental well-being.

As explained by Julia Zhu, first author of the research, in Medscape Medical Newstai chi can improve joint mobility, muscle strength, balance and proprioception. “These effects improve the biomechanics of the limb,” says Zhou.

Joseph Corbella