In a study aimed to test the efficacy of tai chi for treating chronic neck pain, subjects with chronic nonspecific neck pain were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of group tai chi or conventional neck exercises with weekly sessions of 75–90 minutes, or a wait-list control group.
After 12 weeks, a pain reduction of around 50% was observed by 36.8% in the tai chi group, who reported significantly less pain compared with the wait-list group. No differences were found for tai chi compared to the conventional neck exercise group.
The results indicate that tai chi exercises and conventional neck exercises are equally effective in improving pain and quality of life, and both approaches appear to be safe and well tolerated.
Read the abstract or the full study here.