A Systematic review of the Tai Chi exercises Effectiveness in patients with chronic conditions

Background and Aim: long lasting diseases, injuries with long-term complications, sensual and communicational abnormality are chronic conditions, which can be physical or mental (cognitive and emotional).Tai Chi is a Chinese psychosomatic exercise, which can results in dynamic coordination and facilitates inside the body energy flow. This study aimed to investigate the current evidence base for the impact of Tai Chi on chronic conditions.Search method: A wide range of databases were searched, including Pub med, SID, Scopus, Magiran, Iranmedex with the keywords of Tai Chi, chronic disease, chronic condition. The inclusion criteria were the simultaneous presence of both Tai Chi and chronic condition in the abstract of the published English or Persian language articles from 2011 to 2018. The exclusion criteria were lack of access to the full text of the articles. Results: The authors reviewed 58 abstracts for inclusion and 37-selected full-text were analyzed. Findings showed that Tai Chi therapy affects balance, walking (or hiking), and the quality of life in patients suffering a stroke. It can also reduce the psycho-pathologic, negative symptoms and aggressive behaviors in patients with schizophrenia and improve the quality of life in these patients. In patients with heart failure, it reduces psychological distress, Body Mass Index, and systolic pressure and promotes flexibility. In addition, Tai Chi improves pulmonary function, exercise capacity, and diaphragm strength in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases. Furthermore, as an alternative therapy, Tai Chi is effective in improving sleep quality. Conclusion: Tai Chi has positive impact on health related quality of life in patients with chronic conditions, especially in patients with cardiovascular, cerebral, respiratory, and skeletal disorders. Due to limitations of previous studies, it is recommended that high-quality clinical trials with larger samples be performed in long term and short term.

کلیدواژه ها:

Tai Chi ، chronic disease ، chronic condition