Rehabilitative Tai Chi for Chronic Back Pain

The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute reports that 65 million Americans report experiencing low back pain, while health economists estimate that the cost of chronic pain in the United States is $635 billion annually. Back pain is the leading cause of lost work days and has a high correlation to feelings of emotional distress. Current research is revealing the broad ineffectiveness of long-term pharmaceutical approaches and strongly suggests that successfully treating the multifactorial nature of chronic back pain requires an integrative, holistic approach.

Tai Chi is a widely recognized mind-body modality and non-pharmacological approach in treating chronic pain conditions. This highly insightful 2-hour course has been designed to outline the scientific and physiologic basis of key rehabilitative Tai Chi components, to instruct simple Tai Chi practices shown to be effective in remediating back pain anddysfunction, and to review the evidence base for validating rehabilitative Tai Chi in the treatment of patients dealing with chronic back pain.

Target Audience: Physical Therapists, Physical Therapist Assistants, Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants, Athletic Trainers

Highlights

• Practice 10, easy-to-use rehabilitative Tai Chi strategies that can be applied immediately in patient care
• Effectively validate the evidence-based benefits of Tai Chi in rehabilitation to even the most resistant patients and colleagues