Back Pain

Tai Chi is an exercise that has been gaining recognition as a way to relieve or manage neck, shoulder and back pain. A lot of people have been suffering from neck, shoulder and back injuries, because they have held a bad or incorrect posture through their lives. Following Tai Chi principles and performing Tai Chi in the correct posture, will help the person to open his/her body remedial pathways. The correct posture will help patients to improve their circulation for improved healing. Only through 2-3 months training, the patient can be fully recovered. TCFA has experienced this; Helping so many people to a full recovery only through Tai Chi training. The martial art of Tai Chi ,created in ancient China and is still practiced all around the world as a powerful, popular healing exercise.

Tai Chi routines require the practitioners to be tranquil and calm, emphasizing slow and soft movements. Nowadays, we practise Tai Chi as an exercise using the method as a means to attain healing qualities rather than combative awareness.

Unlike other forms of exercise such as yoga, Tai Chi involves a greater degree of movement. And unlike many types of aerobic exercise (such as running) Tai Chi does not involve any jarring motions that create impact on the spine. It is a slow and deliberate, flowing movement of the body.

Posture upright from baihui to huiyin, the spine vertical to the earth, using natures gravity power to maintain the body posture, in a relaxed floating round circular movement. Use this round gentle circle to get each of the joints to work like axles which are chained one after the other. Because of its circling movement, there will be more circulation happening to each joint. And the joints are maximally stretched further apart without any pain or suffering. Therefore the injured part, eg. backache can easily to be fixed only through the exercise of Tai Chi.
Slow and fluid movements improve the body’s alignment, posture, strength, flexibility, coordination, balance, and stamina. Many of the benefits of Tai Chi are consistent with many other forms of low-impact exercise, with the added benefit of focus on improved posture, balance and alignment.

According to my teaching experience, the back pain suffered by a large number of people is actually caused by growing up with the bad habit of the wrong posture. The benefits of Tai Chi can improve posture to help the sufferers correct their posture and strengthen the muscles around the injured area through its circling movements. It is a more powerful and economic way for healing for neck, shoulder and back pain than medicine or other methods of treating.

Tai Chi has demonstrated usefulness in the prevention and treatment of certain problems such as neck, shoulder and back pain. Importantly, Tai Chi is non-invasive, relatively inexpensive, and gentle on the spine, so many people with back pain are starting to try it as an adjunct to traditional medical approaches to manage back pain. Furthermore, Tai Chi does not require any expensive equipment and can be practiced anywhere. Some of the patients learning Tai Chi from Tai Chi Fitness Australia have been injured in car accidents. They were unable to walk or work without pain, after a period of training, they are not only free from pain, but their joints have become mobile again.

In theory, Tai Chi directly affects Chi – the “vital energy” or “life force” of the body – where proper flow of Chi is said to be necessary to maintain health. During Tai Chi, this energy flows through the body through a network of a number of body pathways (meridians from acupuncture). When these pathways are blocked, Chi does not flow properly, and in theory, illness ensues. Tai Chi is thought to stimulate this flow of Chi through the body and organs through its movements and breathing. Tai Chi can be seen as acupuncture from the inside. On the whole Tai Chi is based on acupuncture theory, the only difference is, acupuncture use needles to get his/her body meridians cleared or unblocked, Tai Chi uses your own Chi to get your meridians flowing freely.

From a more scientific standpoint, Tai Chi is not unlike other forms of low-impact exercises; however, Tai Chi focuses more specifically on posture and alignment.

Body alignment and posture in Tai Chi: Training the body to avoid slouching and rounding the shoulders through better posture and spinal alignment reduces stress on the components of the spine. Practicing Tai Chi may therefore reduce the practitioner’s shoulder or back pain through application.

Balance and coordination in Tai Chi: Transferring of weight from one leg to the other, while extending and retracting limbs, and flexing joints, plays a critical role in improving the balance of the practitioner. Tai Chi aids in enhancing the coordination of the practitioner by increasing the body’s automatic perception of movement and spatial orientation through interpreting signals from the muscles, joints, and connective tissues; “position sense.” A heightened position sense acquired through Tai Chi is helpful for preventing an accident that may lead to back pain. It also helps reduce aggravation of existing back pain by reducing awkward movements. There has been considerable evidence showing that Tai Chi practiced by the elderly greatly reduces the chances of falls.

Tone and strength of muscles: As with any other form of physical exercise, Tai Chi provides practitioners with an overall toning and strengthening of specific muscles. The weight bearing aspects of the Tai Chi exercise have even been shown to stimulate bone growth, which may be beneficial to help prevent osteoporosis. Many of the Tai Chi movements use the spine as a pivot point, gently flexing both the spine and the muscles around it, back and forth and around. Through repetition of Tai Chi movements, the muscles around the spine, including the abdominals and hamstrings, strengthen and become more flexible, both of which are important to improve posture and reduce back pain.

Performing Tai Chi can help people releasing stress and anxiety: Deep, focused breathing in conjunction with related movements of the stomach, chest, diaphragm, and other parts of the body bring the mind into a meditative state. Tai Chi also intends for the practitioner to seek an “inner stillness” with a clear and focused mind. This type of Tai Chi action is thought to help release stress, and stress is a factor in causing or exacerbating many forms of pains. There are many people who have fully recovered from their joints pains through the simple exercise of Tai Chi .