Tai-Chi for Residential Patients with Schizophrenia on Movement Coordination, Negative Symptoms, and Functioning: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objective. Patients with schizophrenia residing at institutions often suffer from negative symptoms, motor, and functional impairments more severe than their noninstitutionalized counterparts. Tai-chi emphasizes body relaxation, alertness, and movement coordination with benefits to balance, focus, and stress relief. This pilot study explored the efficacy of Tai-chi on movement coordination, negative symptoms, and functioning disabilities towards schizophrenia. Methods. A randomized waitlist control design was adopted, where participants were randomized to receive either the 6-week Tai-chi program and standard residential care or only the latter. 30 Chinese patients with schizophrenia were recruited from a rehabilitation residency. All were assessed on movement coordination, negative symptoms, and functional disabilities at baseline, following intervention and 6 weeks after intervention. Results. Tai-chi buffered from deteriorations in movement coordination and interpersonal functioning, the latter with sustained effectiveness 6 weeks after the class was ended. Controls showed marked deteriorations in those areas. The Tai-chi group also experienced fewer disruptions to life activities at the 6-week maintenance. There was no significant improvement in negative symptoms after Tai-chi. Conclusions. This study demonstrated encouraging benefits of Tai-chi in preventing deteriorations in movement coordination and interpersonal functioning for residential patients with schizophrenia. The ease of implementation facilitates promotion at institutional psychiatric services.

A systematic review of the benefits of physical therapy within a multidisciplinary care approach for people with schizophrenia: An update

“…Six publications (Ikai et al, 2013;Scheewe et al, 2013, Manjunath et al, 2013Varambally et al, 2012;Ho et al, 2012) were considered to be of strong/good quality on both scales. Two studies (Oertel-Knöchel et al, 2014;Takahashi et al, 2012) were considered to be of weak/fair quality.…”

“…Most of the included studies diagnosed schizophrenia according to the DSM criteria apart from two studies which used the ICD-10 classification criteria (Ikai et al, 2013;Heggelund et al, 2012). Three studies included both inpatients and outpatients Ho et al, 2012;Heggelund et al, 2012), two studies relied solely on outpatients (Ikai et al, 2013;Varambally et al, 2012), four studies included only inpatients (Manjunath et al, 2013;Georgiev et al, 2012;Oertel-Knöchel et al, 2014;Visceglia and Lewis, 2011), and four studies did not specify the setting (Scheewe et al, , 2012Battaglia et al, 2013;Takahashi et al, 2012). More detailed characteristics of the participants are presented in Table 1 Studies included in a meta-analysis (n=0) …”

“…Georgiev et al (2012) analysed the effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation compared with a resting control intervention. Ho et al (2012) evaluated the effectiveness of Tai-Chi sessions compared with a wait list.…”

“…One study showed that tai-chi buffered deteriorations in movement coordination but effects were not sustained 6-weeks post-intervention (Ho et al, 2012). However, no changes in negative symptoms were found.…”

Efficacy of Baduanjin Exercise and Feasibility of Mobile Text Reminders on Follow-up Participation in People With Severe Mental Illness: An Exploratory Study

“…10,11 Tai-chi, a well-known type of Qigong, has been criticized as being too complicated for beginners to learn and practice independently. 12 Baduanjin is another type of traditional Chinese Qigong exercise that is less physically and MING-DE CHEN, PhD YA-CHIN YEH, MS YI-JUNG TSAI, PhD YEN-CHING CHANG, PhD JUNE-WEI YU CHING-HUI HSU, MS cognitively demanding and can be learned easily and practiced without restrictions on time and space. 13,14 Previous research has demonstrated that it is feasible to offer Baduanjin as a communitybased physical exercise program for the elderly. 15 Baduanjin has also shown health benefits, such as improvements in physical fitness and quality of life, in the general population.…”