title: Seated Tai Chi to alleviate pain and improve quality of life in individuals with spinal cord disorder.
abstract: Previous research studies have confirmed therapeutic physical and psychological benefits of Tai Chi for both the able-bodied and disabled populations. However, given the limited availability of seated Tai Chi, there have not been any studies to date that have examined the effectiveness of seated Tai Chi in individuals with spinal cord disorder (SCD). We designed a customized seated Tai Chi program to meet the need for improved exercise options for individuals with SCD.
  
  
  
  Twenty-six participants were enrolled in a 12-week seated Tai Chi course consisting of weekly sessions. After each Tai Chi session, patients reported improved visual analog scale (VAS) monitoring pain (P) (3.18 v 2.93; P 1.63E-03), emotional sense of well-being (EWB) (2.61 vs 2.04; P 2.86E-07), mental distraction (MD) (3.13 v 2.29; P 9.36E-08), physical sense of well-being (PWB) (2.84 v 2.25; p 7.38E-08), and sense of spiritual connection (SC) (3.28 v 2.50; P 6.46E-08). In our limited follow-up of 9 participants who completed half of the sessions and the long term surveys after the 12-week course, there were no detectable differences in weekly P, EWB, MD, PWB, and SC before each session.
  
  
  
  Individuals with SCD demonstrated benefits in pain, emotional sense of well-being, mental distraction, physical sense of well-being, and sense of spiritual connection immediately after seated Tai Chi exercise sessions in our pilot study. More research in a larger population would be needed to study the long-term impact of seated Tai Chi.
authors.affiliation: a Santa Clara Valley Medical Center , San Jose , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Kazuko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shem
authors.affiliation: a Santa Clara Valley Medical Center , San Jose , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Darlene
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karasik
authors.affiliation: a Santa Clara Valley Medical Center , San Jose , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carufel
authors.affiliation: b Stanford University School of Medicine , Stanford , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Ming-Chih
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.affiliation: b Stanford University School of Medicine , Stanford , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy; D026302:Tai Ji / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Exercise; Quality of life; Spinal cord injury; Tai Chi