Study finds Tai Chi to be beneficial for patients with chronic heart failure

Source: MedWire News

Scientists at Harvard Medical School have found the ancient Chinese meditation "Tai Chi" to be beneficial to heart patients. Tai Chi, which literally means "Supreme Ultimate Fist", is a form of meditation in motion that combines breathing techniques, flowing circular movements, weight-shifting, balance and focused internal awareness. Earlier studies have shown the meditation form to improve conditions such as hypertension, musculoskeletal diseases, balance and fibromyalgia. The new study saw researchers from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center collaborating and following 100 outpatients with systolic heart failure—a heart condition characterized by reduction in heart-pumping function. The participants were divided in two random groups, each consisting of 50 members. While one group was subjected to a Tai Chi-based exercise program for 12 weeks, the other group was given education sessions about heart failure for the same period. Both the sessions were conducted twice a week. At the end of the study the participants were asked to answer Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire. It was found that participants from both the groups had similar oxygen intake during a six-minute walk. But from the questionnaire it was found that the group which practiced Tai Chi experienced improvements to a larger extent in their quality of life. Moreover, the Tai Chi group also exhibited mood improvement and recorded a greater amount of calorie burn in a week. Patients with chronic heart failure experience conditions such as shortness of breath, chronic venous congestion, coughing and ankle swelling and hence they are mostly considered to be unfit for exercising. In fact, since the late 1980s people suffering from chronic systolic heart failure are usually advised to avoid heavy physical activity. This research was the first rigorous study to probe the effects of meditative exercises among a large group of patients with chronic heart failure. Dr. Gloria Yeh, Division of general medicine and primary care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medicine School, is the lead researcher of the study. She writes, "Tai chi training improved important parameters of quality of life, mood and confidence to perform exercise in patients with heart failure." Dr. Gregg Fonarow, associate chief of cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, agrees. According to him heart failure causes "substantial impairment in functional capacity, quality of life and mood." He also adds that aerobic exercises can also prove to be beneficial but most patients with heart failure are unable to continue such programs. In such a scenario, Tai Chi "may be more easily implemented, pleasant and have the additional benefit of meditation." "Tai chi appears to be a safe alternative to low- to moderate-intensity conventional exercise training in patients with heart failure. Further studies are needed to compare Tai chi to aerobic exercise training, and to determine if participation in Tai chi will have a favorable impact on risk of hospitalization or survival in patients with heart failure," he says.