World of Martial Arts: Martial Arts News

Do a little Taichi and get immunized against chicken-pox and Shingles

In a recent research sponsered by National Institutes of Health (USA), by analysing 112 people who where aging from 59 to 86, concluded that Tai chi chuan (Taiji Quan) practitioner may be well defensive against the virus varicella-zoster which causes chicken-pox and shingles (painful nerve condition affecting mainly older people). Even if they get caught, the effect may be very little.

During the research they split up the group into 2. They had given taichi lessons for the first group three times in a week for a period of 16 weeks. While on the mean time the other people were submitted for health-counseling classes. The researchers reached a conclusion that those who practiced taichi had improved their immunity towards the virus. They also found that the taichi practitioners have better response to the vaccine when they were later vaccinated.

The research was led by Dr. Michael R Irwin of the University of California and was published in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.