Articles
Tai chi improves sense of touch - Journal of Chinese Medicine, Oct 2008 |
| Posted by Paula Hutchinson (paulahutchinson) on Thu Nov 27, 2008 at 10:51 AM |
It appears that although tai chi (TC) does not directly involve tactile stimulus training, it is capable of eliciting enhanced tactile acuity in long-term practitioners. Experienced adult TC practitioners were recruited and compared with age-gender matched controls. A blinded assessor used a validated method to compare TC practitioners' and controls' ability to discriminate between two different orientations (parallel and horizontal) across different grating widths at the fingertip. Study results showed that TC practitioners' tactile spatial acuity was superior to that of matched controls. The results also showed that TC had an enhanced effect on older practitioners, suggesting that it may slow age related decline in this measure. The authors suggest that the observed effect may be due to the fact that TC practitioners focus mental attention on the body's extremities, including the fingertips and hands, as they practise their form and that this may elicit long-term plasticity in sensory cortical maps in the brain. (Tactile acuity in experienced Tai Chi practitioners: evidence for use dependent plasticity as an effect of sensory-attentional training. Exp Brain Res. 2008 Jun;188(2):317-22).
