The 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, found that an estimated 2.3 million Americans had used tai chi.
Do you practice tai chi, qigong, yoga breathing exercises or other mind-body healing practices? If you do, you're not alone. Not remotely – according to nationwide surveys, millions of Americans have tried these complementary and alternative treatments as ways to treat their physical or mental ills.
The 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, found that an estimated 2.3 million Americans had used tai chi in the year prior to the study.
That's quite a few people, all practicing the yoga breathing styles, mindfulness techniques and slow, deliberate movements of tai chi. To put that figure in perspective, 2.3 million people would fill San Francisco's Candlestick Park Stadium to capacity 33 times over!
Respondents gave a number of reasons for trying the so-called "soft" martial art. These included the need to get low-impact exercise, to increase muscular strength or flexibility, to augment the sense of balance, to soothe stiff joints or sore muscles, to make it easier to fall asleep or to pursue well-being in general.
In order to get a better idea of who is using tai chi and qigong for good health, researchers from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center recently analyzed the data collected in the 2002 NHIS.
The team found that men are as likely as women to have tried tai chi or qigong. Individuals who reported using these methods were more likely to be Asian-American than Caucasian, as well as college-educated, though practitioners ultimately covered a wide gamut of backgrounds.
The survey also determined that muscular or skeletal conditions, asthma and sprains were associated with an increased likelihood of practicing tai chi or qigong. Scientists also found that most practitioners reported using these self healing methods as a way to improve physical health.
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