Tai Chi: The Chinese ancient wisdom of an ideal exercise for cardiac patients

Abstract

Tai Chi, the shorter version of Tai Chi Chuan [1], is a form of ancient Chinese martial art with slow and graceful movements. It is also a mind–body relaxation exercise [1]. Tai Chi was originally devised in about 960 during the Song dynasty by Chang San-fung [1,2] for meditation and selfdefence [1,3]. Contrary to the northern, external form of boxing (shao-lin based on muscular strength), Tai Chi was a southern internal form based on suppleness and the art of evasion. The idea was to oblige one's opponent to exert efforts as considerable as they were useless and so put him into an unfavorable position [2]. Over the years Tai Chi has become more focused on health promotion than as a martial art. It is now a very popular Chinese conditioning exercise practiced all around the world. The effect of Tai Chi on health outcomes in patients with chronic diseases has been extensively reviewed over the years [4–8]. In particular, the benefits of Tai Chi in patients with cardiac diseases were the subjects of several recent articles [9–13]. In addition to those discussed in these articles – enhanced cardiovascular function, increased strength, increased balance, decreased falls, reduced pain perception, reduced anxiety and improved self-efficiency – there are several additional effects of Tai Chi in cardiac patients that will be the subjects of this article. First, Tai Chi is effective in treating patients with hypertension [8,14–18]. The effect is greater for systolic than for diastolic blood pressure which is dependent upon elasticity in the arterial wall [15,17]. Whether the blood pressure decrease is a consequence of the mental or physical relaxation aspects of the exercise is still under investigation [15].