Get moving: T’ai chi for people with arthritis

“You don’t have to have arthritis to do it,” explains physiotherapist Susan O’Sullivan when I meet her to fill out waiver forms before taking part in her class.

“People come for different reasons and they tend to find it’s something they didn’t quite think it would be, but most people end up grinning after the first session.”

T’ai chi for arthritis isn’t a dangerous activity but O’Sullivan likes to have all your medical history. I’d been looking forward to this class as soon as I heard about it – I suffer from joint pain, often during the colder, damp months.

The closest I've been to t'ai chi is the scene in the movie Calendar Girls or strolling around parks, early mornings, on my travels around Asia.

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I was pretty excited when I turned up at a church hall in Greystones, Co Wicklow for the class, especially when I saw the caramel wafers that were laid out as snacks. I tucked one into my bag as a reward for later.

“T’ai chi is the ‘art’ part of the martial,” says O’Sullivan. “T’ai chi for arthritis popped up and I thought, well that actually kind of nails two birds with the one stone. It’s for arthritis and, as a physio, any exercise you can get people doing is beneficial, you don’t want immobility, you do not want people static. People need to move, joints need to move, so that’s the love of it.”

We started with the traditional wushu greeting, right fist on left palm.

Although the aim of the class is relaxation and focus, I’m nervous in these situations as I am a known giggler. I have a very patient yoga teacher who says that I’m just expressing emotions when I take a fit of the giggles in class. I’ve been assured that anything goes in t’ai chi, so I hope I can at least manage the hour without causing too much disruption.

Deliberate movements

I like it once we get into the warm-up. It’s slow, deliberate movements – gentle but controlled. I haven’t a notion what I’m doing (there is a part where I’m holding a ball of energy), and I get the hand movements wrong a few times. I’ve seen YouTube videos where you can really see the moving ball of energy in someone’s hands, but I’m afraid I’m not quite as effective so, luckily, no one noticed when I dropped it a few times.

I spend most of my time copying Gloria Farrell who is moving gracefully beside me. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and hoped she’d benefit from the class. “I’ve always enjoyed seeing t’ai chi when I’ve travelled. You see them doing it in the open air, it always looked so pleasant. I thought I’d start and I found it much harder than it looked, but, at the same time, it does so much good and you do feel your joints being stretched. It is really beneficial.

“Under the doctor’s advice I’m doing exercise and treating it [rheumatoid arthritis] with just paracetamol. For as long as possible I will try and keep it like that. Eventually, it’s an autoimmune disease, I’ll have to go on to some kind of medication, but at the moment it’s fine.”

We move on to the main set, a routine the class has been putting together for weeks. I’m happy to just follow the leader and hope for the best. The warm-up gave me an introduction to some of the moves, so it is a matter of joining the dots or watching the others.

As we move to the right, I catch a glimpse of Pauline O’Sullivan in action. She’s been taking the class for a while and finds it has helped her a lot with balance. She certainly doesn’t look like she’s struggling.

“I have a rare neurological condition called Syringomyelia,” she says. “Mine affects my right-hand side, my nervous system. It affects my balance, so I find it really helps me with my balance. I couldn’t stand [for long periods of time]. I’m standing here for an hour and I find it brilliant. I don’t know if you are so focused doing it, but definitely I find it great, [I] highly recommend it.”

All along we’d been moving to music, but now we do the same routine in silence.

They were very good to put up with me "expressing my feelings" while we worked our way through the routine. I even got a few comments at the end asking if I'd done it before as I'd picked it up so quickly – t'ai chi brings out the warrior in you in a slightly more sophisticated way than Braveheart.

I ask Margaret Smyth what brings her to the hall every week.

“It’s always something I’ve wanted to try, having seen it on TV, and I’d been through a very stressful time and I thought it would probably be very good for me to relax and I found it excellent,” she says.

“I think I’m the oldest in the class and I actually find it very good for the brain. To think turn right, turn left, you can hear the wheels clanking around in the brain, it does keep you sharp, it’s sort of a brain workout as well as a physical one even though it’s supposed to be more relaxing. It’s been very good for my joints as well and she’s a very good teacher, [an] excellent teacher.”

The movements and routines in the class are specially choreographed for people suffering from any type of arthritis or joint pain. While I enjoyed the class and found the movements within my comfort zone, the focus and control is definitely something that will benefit me.

As O’Sullivan says, it’s not only for those with arthritis. “Everybody always works within their own comfort zone; there are certain safety pointers that I give as well. You don’t need any equipment, you just need flat shoes, loose comfortable clothing, a smile and an open mind.”