Tai Chi: Best Fibromyalgia Treatment?
Tai Chi: Best Fibromyalgia Treatment?
Aug. 18, 2010 -- Just 12 weeks of tai chi -- the slow-motion Chinese martial art -- relieved longstanding fibromyalgia symptoms and improved quality of life in a clinical trial.
Compared with patients who received wellness education and stretching exercises, those who practiced tai chi saw their fibromyalgia become much less severe. They also slept better, felt better, had less pain, had more energy, and had better physical and mental health, says study researcher Chenchen Wang, MD, of Tufts University School of Medicine.
"We definitely saw better results than reported in trials of drug treatments for fibromyalgia," Wang tells WebMD. "One patient with previous arthritis pain kept saying, 'No pain! No pain!'"
It wasn't for everyone. Wang says 10% to 20% of patients randomly assigned to tai chi did not feel it helped them. But he says 50% to 60% of the patients were "really engaged," and after about eight weeks began to feel better.
Improvement was gradual but steady. Patients who benefited from tai chi asked the researchers to continue the program when the 24-week study ended.
The Wang study was relatively small, with 66 patients evenly divided between the tai chi and education/stretching groups. Wang says the results should be confirmed in a larger trial.
Gloria Y. Yeh, MD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School, agrees.
But Yeh says patients should not wait to for the results of such studies.
"Tai chi may be an ideal exercise option for patients with fibromyalgia. It seems to be safe and effective," Yeh tells WebMD via email. "If you are a patient suffering with fibromyalgia without much relief from conventional options -- or are looking for more you can do for yourself -- there is no reason not to give tai chi a try."
Slideshow: Fibromyalgia-Friendly Exercises
Compared with patients who received wellness education and stretching exercises, those who practiced tai chi saw their fibromyalgia become much less severe. They also slept better, felt better, had less pain, had more energy, and had better physical and mental health, says study researcher Chenchen Wang, MD, of Tufts University School of Medicine.
"We definitely saw better results than reported in trials of drug treatments for fibromyalgia," Wang tells WebMD. "One patient with previous arthritis pain kept saying, 'No pain! No pain!'"
It wasn't for everyone. Wang says 10% to 20% of patients randomly assigned to tai chi did not feel it helped them. But he says 50% to 60% of the patients were "really engaged," and after about eight weeks began to feel better.
Improvement was gradual but steady. Patients who benefited from tai chi asked the researchers to continue the program when the 24-week study ended.
The Wang study was relatively small, with 66 patients evenly divided between the tai chi and education/stretching groups. Wang says the results should be confirmed in a larger trial.
Gloria Y. Yeh, MD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School, agrees.
But Yeh says patients should not wait to for the results of such studies.
"Tai chi may be an ideal exercise option for patients with fibromyalgia. It seems to be safe and effective," Yeh tells WebMD via email. "If you are a patient suffering with fibromyalgia without much relief from conventional options -- or are looking for more you can do for yourself -- there is no reason not to give tai chi a try."
Slideshow: Fibromyalgia-Friendly Exercises
