Wang Chenchen
Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, Mass., USA.
Med Sport Sci. 2008;52:218-229. doi: 10.1159/000134302.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a serious health problem resulting in significant morbidity and disability. Tai Chi may be beneficial to patients with RA as a result of effects on muscle strength and 'mind-body' interactions. To obtain preliminary data on the effects of Tai Chi on RA, we conducted a pilot randomized controlled trial. Twenty patients with functional class I or II RA were randomly assigned to Tai Chi or attention control in twice-weekly sessions for 12 weeks. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20 response criterion, functional capacity, health-related quality of life and the depression index were assessed.
At 12 weeks, 5/10 patients (50%) randomized to Tai Chi achieved an ACR 20% response compared with 0/10 (0%) in the control (p = 0.03). Tai Chi had greater improvement in the disability index (p = 0.01), vitality subscale of the Medical Outcome Study Short Form 36 (p = 0.01) and the depression index (p = 0.003). Similar trends to improvement were also observed for disease activity, functional capacity and health-related quality of life. No adverse events were observed and no patients withdrew from the study.
Tai Chi appears safe and may be beneficial for functional class I or II RA. These promising results warrant further investigation into the potential complementary role of Tai Chi for treatment of RA.
背景/目的：类风湿关节炎（RA）是一个严重的健康问题，会导致显著的发病率和残疾。太极拳可能因其对肌肉力量和“身心”相互作用的影响而对类风湿关节炎患者有益。为了获得太极拳对类风湿关节炎影响的初步数据，我们进行了一项初步随机对照试验。20名功能分级为I级或II级的类风湿关节炎患者被随机分配到太极拳组或注意力控制组，每周进行两次训练，为期12周。评估了美国风湿病学会（ACR）20反应标准、功能能力、健康相关生活质量和抑郁指数。
在12周时，随机分配到太极拳组的10名患者中有5名（50%）达到了ACR 20%的反应，而对照组为0/10（0%）（p = 0.03）。太极拳在残疾指数（p = 0.01）、医学结局研究简表36的活力子量表（p = 0.01）和抑郁指数（p = 0.003）方面有更大的改善。在疾病活动、功能能力和健康相关生活质量方面也观察到了类似的改善趋势。未观察到不良事件，也没有患者退出研究。
太极拳似乎是安全的，可能对功能分级为I级或II级的类风湿关节炎有益。这些有前景的结果值得进一步研究太极拳在类风湿关节炎治疗中的潜在辅助作用。
