The results suggest that Tai Chi could be an effective alternative and /or complementary approach to existing therapies for people with fatigue .
There is still absence of adverse events data to evaluate the safety of Tai Chi .
BACKGROUND Fatigue is not only a familiar symptom in our daily lives , but also a common ailment that affects all of our bodily systems .
Several r and omized controlled trials ( RCTs ) have proven Tai Chi to be beneficial for patients suffering from fatigue , however conclusive evidence is still lacking .
A pilot study exploring the effects of a 12-week t'ai chi intervention on somatic symptoms of depression in patients with heart failure.
BACKGROUND Patients with chronic heart failure ( HF ) and with elevated depression symptoms are at greater risk of morbidity and mortality . Somatic symptoms of depression are particularly prevalent in HF and are related to worse disease prognosis . T'ai chi practice is related to increased emotional well-being in various clinical population s ; however , relatively little is known about t'ai chi 's effects on somatic versus cognitive symptom dimensions of depression in HF . PURPOSE The objective of the study was to measure whether a t'ai chi intervention effectively reduces somatic and /or cognitive symptoms of depression in patients with HF . METHODS Patients with HF were assigned to either t'ai chi training ( n=16 ) or a usual-care group ( n=12 ) . At baseline and after the 12-week intervention period , participants were evaluated for changes in depressive symptoms using Beck Depression Inventory ( BDI ) total scores ( BDI-t ) and subcategorized scores of BDI-somatic ( BDI-s ) and BDI-cognitive ( BDI-c ) , and for symptoms of fatigue using the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form . RESULTS Patients with HF in the t'ai chi group compared to the  usual-care  group had reduced BDI-s ( p≤0.017 ) , but not BDI-c ( p=0.50 ) scores from pre- to postintervention . Although t'ai chi did not significantly reduce fatigue , changes in physical fatigue ( p≤0.05 ) were independently associated with changes in BDI-t scores . CONCLUSIONS T'ai chi practice  reduced somatic symptoms of depression , which have been linked to worse prognosis in HF . Reductions in fatigue appear to explain some but not all of the reductions in somatic symptoms of depression
The results suggest that Tai Chi could be an effective alternative and /or complementary approach to existing therapies for people with fatigue .
There is still absence of adverse events data to evaluate the safety of Tai Chi .
BACKGROUND Fatigue is not only a familiar symptom in our daily lives , but also a common ailment that affects all of our bodily systems .
Several r and omized controlled trials ( RCTs ) have proven Tai Chi to be beneficial for patients suffering from fatigue , however conclusive evidence is still lacking .