OT: Tai Chi May Prevent Shingles

[Guest guest]

Pretty interesting article on Tai Chi and Shingles that the sailor

just sent me.

 

Also, it's only been a short time now that I've started getting back

into the community, so please be patient with me while I catch up!

And please do post any details on the gathering in Texas to ATFE when

you have them. :-D

 

Take care,

Stacey

 

http://news./s/ap/20070408/ap_on_he_me/fitness_tai_chi_shingles

 

 

>By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer

 

Sun Apr 8, 1:34 PM ET

 

LOS ANGELES - Tai chi is already known as a good low-impact exercise

for older people. Now a recent study suggests it offers benefits

beyond improving fitness and balance: It may help prevent shingles, a

painful skin condition.

 

Researchers found older people who performed the slow, graceful

movements of tai chi had a better immune response against the virus

that causes shingles than those who only got health education,

according to the most rigorous test to date.

 

It's unclear how tai chi, an ancient Chinese martial art that has

become increasingly popular in the West, affects the immune system.

But health experts were encouraged by the positive results.

 

" The message is that older people need to maintain healthy behavior, "

said Andrew Monjan of the National Institute on Aging, which helped

fund the research. " It's nothing that our mothers haven't told us, but

we're seeing it certainly holds up to scientific inquiry. "

 

The study appears in the April issue of the Journal of the American

Geriatrics Society and was led by Dr. Michael Irwin of the University

of California, Los Angeles.

 

Shingles is a painful skin rash that can pop up in people who have had

chickenpox. The chickenpox virus can remain dormant in the body and

resurface as shingles years later. It usually starts with pain and

itching on the skin that later turns into an irritating rash.

 

An estimated 1 million Americans are afflicted with shingles every

year and it commonly occurs in people 50 years old and older.

 

The UCLA study involved 112 healthy adults, ages 59 to 86, who have

had previous cases of chickenpox.

 

Half of them took tai chi classes three times a week for three months

and the rest attended health education classes where they were taught

good diet habits and stress management. Then both groups were

vaccinated with a chickenpox vaccine. Researchers took periodic blood

tests before and after vaccination to determine their level of

immunity against shingles.

 

After six months, the tai chi group had nearly twice the level of

immunity against shingles than the education group.

 

Those who performed tai chi before vaccination had an immune response

that was similar to what a vaccine would produce in a younger

population. Tai chi combined with the vaccine showed a 40 percent

increase in immunity than the vaccine alone, researchers found.

 

The results weren't surprising to tai chi instructor Howard Chuck, who

owns a tai chi academy in Sunnyvale, Calif.

 

Although none of his students are trying to ward off shingles, Chuck

said the exercise is popular among his older people who prefer tai

chi's meditation aspects.

 

" Tai chi requires a lot of mind power not just muscle power, " he said.<

 

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