{"id":6249,"date":"2020-03-19T01:25:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T05:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dontow.com\/?p=6249"},"modified":"2020-03-19T01:33:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T05:33:41","slug":"taiji-like-exercises-for-people-with-physical-handicaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/2020\/03\/taiji-like-exercises-for-people-with-physical-handicaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiji-like Exercises for People with Physical Handicaps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
It is well known that Taiji\nexercises have many health benefits. This article discusses that many\nTaiji-like exercises, including the associated warm-up stretching and Qigong\nexercises, can also be practiced by people with limited physical handicaps,\ne.g., people who have to be seated in wheelchairs or people with limited\nmobility capabilities. It is well-known for hundreds of years that Taiji-like\nexercises are good for your health. Modern scientific\/medical research\ninvestigations carried out in the last 25 years are supporting these long-held\nbeliefs, although more research studies with larger sample sizes and by more\nteams over many more localities are still needed to confirm these preliminary\nfindings. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Taiji-like exercises we are\nreferring to exercises that include warm-up exercises that we usually do at the\nbeginning of each class or self-practice , and breathing\/stretching\/meditation\nexercises like the Eight Silk Brocade Qigong [2] exercises. We will\ndiscuss two types of people with limited mobility handicaps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I. People Seated in Wheelchairs: <\/strong>These are people who are seated in wheetchairs, but can\nstill move their arms and legs. There are still quite a few exercises\nthat these people can do. We now discuss several of them.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n II. People with Limited Mobility\nCapability<\/strong>: This set of exercises is for those\nwho can stand up and walk, although slowly and not always steadily. When\nwalking, be sure to pay attention to the following two principles as discussed\nin Ref. 3:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For these people, all the exercises\ndiscussed in Section I for people in wheelchairs can also be done by people who\ncan stand up and walk. Besides the three Eight Silk Brocade Qigong exercises\ndiscussed in Section I, they can also do the other five Eight Silk Brocade\nQigong exercises of Ref. 2. Furthermore, while doing these exercises, they can\nalso squat down if it is prescribed by the exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, here are a couple more\nexercises they can do:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, people with limited physical mobility can also do many Taiji-like warm-up, stretching, and Qigong exercises, and thus benefit from many health benefits of Taiji. These are relatively simple exercises and can be taught and learned easily. They do not require a lot of room. The exercises can be practiced for extended periods like 30-60 minutes, or as short as 10-15 minutes. Practicing them several times per week will do wonders to your health and increase your vitality and raise your spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] See, e.g., Don M. Tow, \u201cHealth Benefits of Taiji,\u201d Qi: The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health & Fitness,<\/em> Volume 29, No. 3, Autumn 2019, pp. 20-28. A shorter version of this article can also be found in the article \u201cTrying to Understand Why Taiji Has So Many Health Benefits<\/a>\u201d in the September 2019 article in this website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [2] See, an earlier article in this\nwebsite: \u201cA Set of Simple\nTime-Tested Health Exercises: The Eight Silk Brocade (\u516b\u6bb5\u9326)<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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