Mark J. Langweiler, DC, DAAPM


Pain is a normal response to injury. Over 40 million medical appointments are made throughout the USA and Canada every year as a response to pain. Typically, the pain will resolve as the injury heals. There is, however, a significant minority who experience pain unrelated to any tissue damage, and whose pain is chronic. Unlike acute pain that serves the biological purpose of warning the body that additional tissue damage may occur, chronic pain serves no survival purpose. By definition, chronic pain is any pain that lasts for more than 3 months and is unrelated to any specific injury or disease process. In this instance, I'm writing about a specific, though common type of chronic pain, neuropathic pain.

Neuropathic pain is commonly seen in people suffering from diabetes, post-herpetic neuropathy or any of an assortment of peripheral neuropathies.. It is believes that this type of pain is due to damage to the nerve and the nerve pathways themselves. This results in a hypersensitivity to stimuli that normally does not cause pain such as a gentle touch, even a light breeze passing over the skin can initiate severe pain. There are also cases where the nerves simply fire of their own accord with no stimulus at all. People describe the pain as burning, electric or shooting in nature, and typically, there is a change in sensation so normally feeling is not present in addition to the pain. When this occurs in the leg or foot balance can become a problem.

Unfortunately, neuropathic pain does not respond well to traditional drug or physical therapies. Even with aggressive treatment the outcome is often less than desired with continued pain and altered sensation. And for those people who do respond to drug therapy, the most common being the tricyclic anti-depressants such as amitriptyline, the side effects can be so severe that it's hard to choose between them and the pain.

Now, we have a study underway that indicates that the continued practice of tai chi chuan has positive effects of neuropathic pain. Dr. Li Li of Louisiana State University has been studying the effects of on-going tai chi chuan practice on the symptoms of neuropathic pain. What he has discovered, and will be publishing in one of the professional journals this summer, is that regular practice of even a very short form reduces the symptoms of pain and altered sensation, sometime dramatically. The program began in the summer of 2004 with the intent of running just a couple of months. It proved to be so successful
that Dr. Li and his colleagues not only continued but expanded the program to include issues of mobility, flexibility. They have been comparing tai chi chuan to a walking program as well as more traditional care. In each instance tai chi has shown more improvement. Many of the participants who started the program needed a cane or a walker to get around, but after a short time found that their mobility improved to the point where they no longer needed these. "We're seeing great results, and we're very excited, "Li said. "Some people started the program unable to stand, even with assistance, for more than five minutes. Today, these dame people have no trouble standing independently."

While we don't have a clear understanding of the mechanism of action that are happening, it is clear that, once again, we are seeing tai chi chuan as a promising means to help improve and maintain the health of all of us.

Dr. Langweiler is the Director of Integrative Medicine at Atlantic Hematology Oncology Group in Galloway, New Jersey. He also has a Tai chi School in southern New Jersey. He can be reached at (609) 576-9388 or mlangweiler@yahoo.com.