The National Athletic Trainers’ Association outlines a 10-step plan to help you reduce body stress and prevent back pain. Among the 10 steps is Tai Chi, for keeping you mobile and limber.

The human body is an incredible machine that adapts to the stresses we give it every day. Stresses such as poor posture, unusual movement or activities, or even a sedentary lifestyle can lead to poor mechanics and pain…Increase your muscle mobility by stretching or doing activities — such as yoga, tai chi, swimming or pilates — that help keep you limber.

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In the news this week is a story about alternative therapies in the elderly. 2/3 of 33 clinical trials focusing on alternative remedies for depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances showed benefits.

Particularly promising were certain “mind-body” approaches, such as tai chi and relaxation exercises, in the treatment of sleep problems.

While many alternative therapies such as herbs, vitamins and hormones still have not proved effective for older adults, this was not so for mind-body approaches like tai chi. The article also stated that, while not yet clinically proved, mind-body therapies hold promise for treatment of depression and anxiety.

A recent Reuters about Yoga for Heart Failure Patients made a small mention of Tai Chi. It is easy why Tai Chi was also mentioned, as the two exercises work in similar manner. Too often we think of exercise as a heart-pounding, painful ordeal. But the theory behind yoga and tai chi is to relax and boost your body’s energy, rather than drain it. As both yoga and tai chi are both about tailoring the exercise to your own body’s capabilities, it is easy to see that people with low cardiac function or depressed immune systems would benefit from these exercises.

Goldberg, a professor of medicine at New York University, said heart failure patients often have trouble with exercise due to fatigue and shortness of breath caused by the heart’s reduced pumping ability.