“Often, breast cancer survivors must take medication known as aromatase inhibitors, which are designed to prevent the cancer from returning, but may also cause severe joint pain, similar to osteoarthritis, according to Gregg J. Cardena, a student researcher in the doctor of physical therapy program at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. (Qi Journal volume 22, no. 1 & Patch Newsletter)”

Many women stop taking this medication as a result of the severe joint pain, which according to Cardena increases the risk of the cancer returning. The college is offering Tai Chi classes through the Physical Therapy department’s research program, and is hopeful that Tai Chi will deliver the same extraordinary results it has for many people suffering from similar conditions. Specifically, the college wants to see if taking Tai Chi classes twice per week for eight weeks will reduce or eliminate the participant’s joint pain allowing them to complete the five year aromatase inhibitor medication schedule.

Tai Chi, or Taiji Quan & Qigong, have already been proven by many medical studies to greatly help or improve the following conditions: Alzheimer’s disease, depression, Parkinson’s disease, Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, recovering from stroke, heart failure, high blood pressure, heart attacks, as well as other forms of cancer, to name just a few. “A 2004 study at the Wilmot Cancer Center in Rochester, NY, assigned 21 women who had been treated for breast cancer to either 12 weeks of tai chi or 12 weeks of participation in a psychosocial support group, both for 1 hour, 3 times a week. The women who practiced tai chi showed significant improvements in self-esteem and quality of life when compared with the women in the psychosocial support group. (Breast Cancer.org)”

In Asia, especially China & Japan, thousands of research studies, over several millennia, have concluded the effectiveness of Tai Chi, Qigong and Taoist self healing exercises. In Beijing, China the Xi Yuan Hospital, offers Qigong as a primary treatment for many health ailments. A large percentage of the patients choose Qigong as their therapy of choice.

This is no surprise to Taoists as the Tao of Revitalization exercises & meditations have been regarded as the foremost-superior therapy for over 5,000 years as recorded in the Taoist Classic Huangdi Neijing (world’s oldest medical book). Some readers, as well as some practitioners, might not be aware that the Taoists created both Tai Chi and Qigong as exercises and cultivation for the body, mind and spirit.

The study is coordinated under the guidance of Mary Lou Galantino, professor of physical therapy at Stockton, along with two second year physical therapy students, Nicole Piela and Mary Callens. Classes will be conducted at Gilda’s Club of South Jersey in Linwood and Kennedy Health Systems in Cherry Hill. “Women interested in participating in the study should have had a diagnosis of stage I, II or III breast cancer; have been free of disease for at least three months; be postmenopausal; taking aromatase inhibitors; and have had joint pain related to those drugs for at least three months. (Press of Atlantic City, Diane D’amico)”

If you are interested in participating in this or future studies, contact Richard Stockton College professor Mary Lou Galantino at (609) 652-4408 or by email at galantinoml@stockton.edu.

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