Tai Chi for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Pilot Study.

PURPOSE: Explore the feasibility of a Tai Chi intervention to improve musculoskeletal pain, emotion, cognition, and physical function in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder. DESIGN: Two-phase, one-arm quasi-experimental design. METHOD: Phase 1: 11 participants completed one Tai Chi session, feasibility questionnaire, and were offered participation in Phase 2, a 12-week Tai Chi intervention. Ten participants participated in Phase 2. Pain intensity, interference, physical function scales, an emotional battery, and cognition tests were used for pre- and postintervention outcome measures. Paired t tests and thematic analysis were used for analysis. FINDINGS: In Phase 1, most felt Tai Chi would benefit health (90.9%) and expressed interest in continuing Tai Chi (6.73 out of 7). Phase 2 results showed improvement in fear-affect (raw t = -2.64, p = .03; age adjusted t = -2.90, p = .02), fear-somatic arousal (raw t = -2.53, p = .035), List Sorting Working Memory (raw t = 2.62, p = .031; age adjusted t = 2.96, p = .018), 6-Minute Walk Test ( t = 3.541, p = .008), and current level of Pain Intensity ( t = -4.00, p = .004). CONCLUSIONS: Tai Chi is an acceptable, holistic treatment to individuals with musculoskeletal pain and posttraumatic stress disorder. It may reduce pain, improve emotion, memory, and physical function.

A supplemental report to a randomized cluster trial of a 20-week Sun-style Tai Chi for osteoarthritic knee pain in elders with cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE: This was a secondary data analysis of a cluster-randomized clinical trial that tested the efficacy of a 20-week Sun-style Tai Chi (TC) program in reducing pain in community-dwelling elders with cognitive impairment and knee osteoarthritis (OA). The study also examined whether elders' level of cognitive function was related to the outcomes of the TC program. METHOD: Elders (N=55) were recruited from 8 study sites. Each site was randomly assigned to participate in either a 20-week TC or an education program. Verbal report of pain was measured by a Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS) at weeks 1, 5, 9, 13, 17 and 21 (designated as times 1-6). Pain behaviors and analgesic intake were also recorded at times 1-6. RESULTS: At post-test, scores on the VDS and observed pain behaviors were significantly better in the TC group than in the control group (p=0.008-0.048). The beneficial effects of TC were not associated with cognitive ability. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that TC can be used as an adjunct to pharmacological intervention to relieve OA pain in elders with cognitive impairment. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trial.gov NCT01528566.

A pilot cluster-randomized trial of a 20-week Tai Chi program in elders with cognitive impairment and osteoarthritic knee: effects on pain and other health outcomes.

CONTEXT: Because Tai Chi (TC) is beneficial to elders without cognitive impairment (CI), it also may benefit elders with CI. But elders with CI have generally been excluded from TC studies because many measurement tools require verbal reports that some elders with CI are unable to provide. OBJECTIVES: To test the efficacy of a TC program in improving pain and other health outcomes in community-dwelling elders with knee osteoarthritis (OA) and CI. METHODS: This pilot cluster-randomized trial was conducted between January 2008 and June 2010 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01528566). The TC group attended Sun style TC classes, three sessions a week for 20 weeks; the control group attended classes providing health and cultural information for the same length of time. Measures included the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pain, physical function and stiffness subscales; the Get Up and Go test; the Sit-to-Stand test; and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), administered at baseline, every four weeks during the intervention and at the end of the study (post-test). RESULTS: Eight sites participated in either the TC group (four sites, 28 participants) or control group (four sites, 27 participants). The WOMAC pain (P = 0.006) and stiffness scores (P = 0.010) differed significantly between the two groups at post-test, whereas differences between the two groups in the WOMAC physical function score (P = 0.071) and the MMSE (P = 0.096) showed borderline significance at the post-test. WOMAC pain (P = 0.001), physical function (P = 0.021), and stiffness (P ≤ 0.001) scores improved significantly more over time in the TC group than in controls. No adverse events were found in either group. CONCLUSION: Practicing TC can be efficacious in reducing pain and stiffness in elders with knee OA and CI.

The effect of tai chi on cognition in elders with cognitive impairment.

This one-arm pilot study investigated the effect of tai chi on cognition in elders with cognitive impairment. Although no significant difference existed between pre- and post-test performance on all cognition measures, a dose-response relationship was demonstrated between attendance and some cognition measures.

Teaching Tai Chi to elders with osteoarthritis pain and mild cognitive impairment.

This article describes the authors' experience and strategies in teaching Tai Chi, a gentle exercise derived from an ancient Chinese martial art, to mildly cognitively impaired elders to relieve osteoarthritic knee pain. The 12-form Sun-style Tai Chi, a set of Tai Chi forms endorsed by the American Arthritis Foundation, was used in the program. Teaching Tai Chi to elders with mild cognitive impairment requires particular strategies tailored to their physical and cognitive frailty. When effectively taught, Tai Chi can be a unique and cost-effective intervention for elders with knee pain caused by osteoarthritis.

Teaching Tai Chi to elders with osteoarthritis pain and mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE: This article describes the authors' experience and strategies in teaching Tai Chi, a gentle exercise derived from an ancient Chinese martial art, to mildly cognitively impaired elders to relieve osteoarthritic knee pain. The 12-form Sun-style Tai Chi, a set of Tai Chi forms endorsed by the American Arthritis Foundation, was used in the program. Teaching Tai Chi to elders with mild cognitive impairment requires particular strategies tailored to their physical and cognitive frailty. When effectively taught, Tai Chi can be a unique and cost-effective intervention for elders with knee pain caused by osteoarthritis.

The effect of tai chi on knee osteoarthritis pain in cognitively impaired elders: pilot study.

This article reports a pilot study of the effect of tai chi (TC), a pharmacological adjunct and mild aerobic exercise, on osteoarthritic knee pain in elders with cognitive impairment (CI). The TC program included a warm-up, 12-form Sun-style TC, and a cool-down period, for a total of 20-40 minutes per session, twice a week for 15 weeks. The results showed no significant differences in knee pain after the TC intervention in 7 elders with CI. However, more minutes of TC attendance were related to improved pain scores (Spearman's rho=.78, P < .05). Greater accuracy in TC performance was also correlated with improvements in pain scores (Spearman's rho = .70, P=.08). Of 4 elders who participated in TC practice regularly (more than 20 sessions), 3 showed clinically important improvements, but 3 elders who participated in no sessions or only a few sessions showed no improvement.

Enrolling older adults with cognitive impairment in research: lessons from a study of Tai Chi for osteoarthritis knee pain.

Exercise is an adjunct intervention for treating osteoarthritis (OA) knee pain, but many older adults, especially those with cognitive impairment, refuse to participate because of their frailty. Tai chi is a gentle alternative to Western-style aerobic exercise. In this article, we report recruitment experiences based on older adults' comments and on staff's observations and reports in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) using tai chi as an intervention to reduce OA knee pain in a population of older adults with cognitive impairment. Recruitment challenges included issues with retirement apartment site staff, the older adults, study criteria or study design, and insufficient research staff. Strategies included networking and staying connected with site staff, using various recruiting approaches, providing incentives/motivation, and using informal leaders or residents as a way to recruit participants. Finally, modifying strict study criteria, securing staff for recruiting, and considering alternative designs to the classical RCT can also help overcome recruitment challenges.

The Feasibility of Implementing Tai Chi for Nursing Home Residents With Knee Osteoarthritis and Cognitive Impairment.

This paper addresses the feasibility of implementing Tai Chi (TC) as an intervention for nursing home residents with osteoarthritis knee and cognitive impairment (CI). Recruiting elderly residents to participate was difficult. Only 9 out of the 31 originally thought eligible meet study criteria and 8 of the 9 elders eventually completed the study. With 2 sessions per week, the elders needed 8-10 weeks to learn the complete set of TC. They could not memorize the TC sequences, but they could follow the instructor who also employed verbal and visual cueing during the intervention. Clearly, elders with CI need different teaching methods and doses of TC. Using extended TC and teaching strategies tailored to participants' physical and cognitive capacity may promote effective learning.