Tai chi and qigong are the movement practices of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). They are slow, coordinated routines that combine posture, movement, breathing and focused attention. Both are now taught in community centres and parks across Canada, including in Guelph. This article covers where the practices come from, how they relate to TCM, and what research reviews have found. It is an educational overview, not exercise or medical advice.
Martial art and health practice
Tai chi began as a Chinese martial art. Over time, slower and gentler forms became popular as a health practice, and most people who learn tai chi today learn it as a sequence of flowing movements rather than as self-defence. Qigong is an older and broader term for exercises that coordinate movement, breathing and attention. In TCM theory, both are described as ways of cultivating and balancing Qi. That is a traditional explanation, not a modern physiological one. For more on Qi and related ideas, see What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine?
The overlap between martial arts and medicine is a familiar one in Sherman Lai's own career. Alongside three decades of TCM practice in Guelph (1986–2017), he founded and taught the University of Guelph's Ninjutsu program from 1983 to 2006, and he described both disciplines as built on patience, restraint and self-control. That parallel is explored in From Ninjutsu to Traditional Chinese Medicine.
What research reviews have found
Tai chi has been studied more than qigong, and the strongest evidence concerns balance and falls in older adults. A 2019 Cochrane review by Sherrington and colleagues looked at exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Across all types of exercise, it found high-certainty evidence that exercise reduces the rate of falls. For tai chi specifically, it estimated a reduction of about 19 percent in the rate of falls, but rated that evidence as low certainty because it rested on fewer studies. Programs built mainly around balance and functional exercise had the strongest support.
The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) summarizes other findings. It reports that tai chi may help with pain, stiffness and function in knee osteoarthritis, and that qigong may have similar effects, though less research has been done on it. For other uses, such as anxiety, NCCIH notes that some studies are encouraging but more large, high-quality trials are needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.
Safety
NCCIH describes tai chi and qigong as generally safe. Reported side effects are usually minor, such as muscle aches. Some people with knee osteoarthritis have reported a temporary increase in knee pain. As with any new exercise, people with health conditions are usually advised to talk to a health care provider first and to learn from a qualified instructor.
A practice anyone can observe
Unlike acupuncture or herbal medicine, tai chi and qigong are taught to groups, need no equipment, and are often practised outdoors. That visibility is part of why they have become, for many Canadians, their first direct experience of the ideas behind TCM. More on how those ideas arrived in Ontario is in Traditional Chinese Medicine in Guelph: A Local History.
Sources
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH). Tai Chi: What You Need To Know.
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH). Qigong: What You Need To Know.
- Sherrington C, et al. Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2019, Issue 1. CD012424.