Tai Ji Chuan is one of the national sports events in China, which has been circulated among the people for a long time. For centuries, practice has proved that Tai Ji Chuan is an important means of fitness and disease prevention. In recent years, many people think, and it has been recorded, that beating Tai Ji Chuan is a good method for adjuvant treatment of hypertension, ulcer, heart disease, tuberculosis and so on. In addition to enhancing physical fitness, it also has a certain curative effect. Because the application of physical exercise to prevent and treat diseases, an important treatment method that has been neglected by us in the past, has been applied to clinical work and is recognized as a necessary link in the treatment process. There is no doubt that Tai Ji Chuan can cooperate with medicine to treat certain diseases. Facts have proved that China is the first country to use fitness to prevent diseases. In China's oldest medical classic, Huangdi Neijing Su Wen, it was mentioned: "Its diseases are mostly flaccidity, cold and heat, and its treatment should be guided." (Press: "Guidance" is a kind of gymnastics activity) Not only that, ancient scientists in China also further explained the truth that "exercise" can strengthen the body and cure diseases with scientific theory. More than 1,800 years ago, Hua Tuo compiled "Five Birds Play" as a fitness exercise. His theory is: "If the human body constantly vibrates, the valley qi will disappear, and the blood vessels will pass, so the disease will not be born. It is also true that people are not dead. " This shows that "sports" has positive significance in disease prevention and treatment. To practice Tai Ji Chuan, you need not only the whole body muscle and joint activities, but also even deep breathing and diaphragm movement. In particular, people are required to be as "calm" as possible and concentrate on boxing. In this way, the Lord has a good influence on the central nervous system, thus laying a good foundation for the activities and improvement of other systems and organs. In order to prove Tai Ji Chuan's health care function, Beijing Institute of Sports Medicine conducted a detailed physical examination for the elderly aged 50 to 89. Among them, 32 are frequent users in Tai Ji Chuan and 56 are normal elderly people. They are superior to ordinary old people in physique, cardiovascular system function, respiratory function, skeletal system and metabolic function. For the convenience of explanation, the physiological effects of Tai Ji Chuan on the main systems of human body are described below.

(A) Tai Ji Chuan's influence on the nervous system

According to the development of physiology in recent years, especially the study of central nervous system by many physiologists, we have further understood the important role of central nervous system in human body. We know that the nervous system, especially its advanced part, is the center that regulates and dominates the activities of all systems and organs. Humans rely on the activities of the nervous system (through conditioned reflex and conditioned reflex) to adapt to and transform the external environment. People rely on the activities of the nervous system to unify the functional activities of various systems and organs in the body as needed. Therefore, any kind of exercise, if it can enhance the function of the central nervous system, has a good health care significance for the whole body. This is the advantage of Tai Ji Chuan.

Tai Ji Chuan requires "peace of mind", concentration and attention to "intention", all of which have a good training effect on brain activities. In addition, the same is true in action. When practicing Tai Ji Chuan, the movements need to be "complete", from the eyes to the upper limbs, trunk and lower limbs, and the care from top to bottom is consistent and continuous. At the same time, because the movements of some parts are complex and need good control and balance ability, the brain needs to be completed under intense activities, which indirectly trains the central nervous system, thus improving the tension of the central nervous system.

Tai Ji Chuan is a very interesting sport, and people who practice it often feel that when practicing posture, they feel very comfortable and refreshed; When practicing "pushing hands", I feel very lively and responsive all over. These are all proofs of boxing practitioners' emotional improvement and strong interest. The improvement of mood has great physiological significance? The improvement of mood can make various physiological mechanisms active. Many experiments have proved that only the influence of spirit can change the dynamic process of blood and gas metabolism before physical strength is used in a kind of exercise. For people with some chronic diseases, the improvement of "mood" is more important. Meridian can not only activate various physiological mechanisms, but also help patients get rid of morbid psychology. This is very important for the therapeutic effect. All the above examples fully show that practicing Tai Ji Chuan has a good effect on the central nervous system.

(2) The effect of Tai Ji Chuan on cardiovascular system.

Tai Ji Chuan's influence on cardiovascular system is dominated by central nervous activity. As far as the composition of Tai Ji Chuan movement is concerned, it includes not only the activities of muscles and joints in each group, but also rhythmic breathing movements, especially diaphragm movements. Therefore, it can strengthen the circulation of blood and lymph, reduce the phenomenon of congestion in the body, and is a good way to eliminate congestion in the body.

We know that the periodic contraction and relaxation of bones in various parts of the body can strengthen the blood circulation of veins, and muscle activity ensures the venous pressure. Breathing movements can also be accelerated. This is very obvious in the process of practicing Tai Ji Chuan.

Tai Ji Chuan's movements should be stretched, his chest should not be tense, and he should consciously coordinate his breathing with his movements, so that he can breathe naturally, and the effect of breathing will also increase, which will better accelerate the circulation of blood and lymph. We often see that when a person's chest and shoulder training and elbow muscles are tense and hard, because the chest is fixed, inhalation is restricted, resulting in blocked blood circulation, the practitioner's face is red and the neck blood vessels are tense. There is no such phenomenon when practicing Tai Ji Chuan.

When playing Tai Ji Chuan, many movements and postures need to sink with qi, which is called "qi sinking into the abdomen". This is a kind of diaphragmatic respiration, which plays a role in medical care. The contraction and relaxation of abdominal muscles constantly change abdominal pressure. When the abdominal pressure rises, the veins in the abdominal cavity are under pressure and blood enters the right atrium. On the contrary, when the abdominal pressure decreases, blood enters the abdominal cavity. This breathing exercise can improve blood circulation and strengthen myocardial nutrition. In addition, the movement of diaphragm can massage the liver regularly, which is a good way to eliminate liver congestion and improve liver function. Therefore, practicing Tai Ji Chuan frequently creates favorable conditions for preventing various heart diseases and arteriosclerosis.

A survey conducted by Beijing Institute of Sports Medicine confirmed that playing Tai Ji Chuan regularly has a good effect on the cardiovascular system. They conducted functional experiments on two groups of elderly people (in one minute, they climbed up and down on a bench 40 cm high 15 times). The results show that the cardiovascular function of the elderly in Tai Ji Chuan group is good, and all the 32 elderly people can complete this certain amount of load except 1 person, and their blood pressure and pulse response are normal. On the contrary, the older the elderly in the control group, the fewer people complete the quantitative load, and the more people have the types of adverse reactions (such as trapezoidal rise and inability to respond) in the functional experiment. The examination of electrocardiogram also proves this point. Only 28.2% of the patients in Tai Ji Chuan group had abnormal ECG response, while 4 1.3% in the control group. From these observations, it is not difficult to see that Tai Ji Chuan can make the coronary artery of the heart supply enough blood, the heart contracts strongly, and the hemodynamic process is good.

Not only that, because Tai Ji Chuan is often played, the regulation function of the central nervous system is improved, the coordinated activities among organs in the body are improved, the tension of vagus nerve is increased, the blood supply and oxygen supply of organs and tissues are sufficient, and the metabolism of substances is also improved. Therefore, people who often play Tai Ji Chuan are less likely to suffer from hypertension and arteriosclerosis. The average blood pressure in Tai Ji Chuan group was 134. 1/80.8 mm Hg, while that in the control group was 154.5/82.7 mm Hg. The arteriosclerosis rate was 39.5% in Tai Ji Chuan group and 46.4% in the general elderly.

It has been proved by physical examination that playing Tai Ji Chuan regularly has a good effect on keeping the elasticity of lung tissue, the range of chest movement (preventing costal cartilage ossification), the ventilation function of lung and the metabolic function of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The difference of thoracic respiration and vital capacity of the elderly in Tai Ji Chuan group was higher than that in the control group. This is because the chest respiratory muscles and diaphragm are strong, the lung tissue is elastic, and the ossification rate of costal cartilage is low. For the elderly who have ossified costal cartilage, Tai Ji Chuan's long and thin breathing and abdominal diaphragm activity can not only increase the ventilation function, but also accelerate the blood flow and improve the ventilation function of alveoli through the regular change of abdominal pressure, which is conducive to maintaining the mobility of the elderly. This is the reason why the elderly in Tai Ji Chuan group had mild asthma and recovered quickly when they completed the quantitative activity test.

(c) The influence of Tai Ji Chuan on skeletal, muscular and joint activities.

Playing Tai Ji Chuan has a prominent influence on the activities of bones, muscles and joints. Taking the spine as an example, practicing Tai Ji Chuan is closely related to waist activities. Regular practice of Tai Ji Chuan has a good influence on the shape and tissue structure of the spine. According to observation, only 28.5% of the elderly in Tai Ji Chuan group suffer from spinal deformity, while the average elderly is 47.2%. Humpback is a typical deformity of old age and the result of aging. But if you often hit Tai Ji Chuan, the incidence of hunchback is far less than that of ordinary people. Playing Tai Ji Chuan often, the range of motion of the spine is also good. The elderly in Tai Ji Chuan group can touch the ground with their hands when bending over, accounting for 77.4%, while the elderly in the control group account for 16.6%. X-ray examination showed that the incidence of senile osteoporosis in Tai Ji Chuan group was lower than that in the control group (36.6% vs 63.8%). Senile osteoporosis is a degenerative change of aging. The main reason is that osteoblasts in bone are not active enough to produce protein matrix of bone, which leads to less bone formation, more absorption and osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is prone to deformity and joint movement is inflexible. Playing Tai Ji Chuan requires consistent movements, mellow activities and running through the whole body, so playing Tai Ji Chuan has certain anti-aging effect.

(4) The effect of Tai Ji Chuan on substance metabolism in vivo.

At present, there is not much research data in this field, but from the difference of bone changes and arteriosclerosis incidence between the two groups of elderly people, Tai Ji Chuan has a good effect on calcium and phosphorus metabolism in lipids, protein and inorganic salts. In recent years, many people in China have studied the anti-aging effect of exercise from the perspective of substance metabolism. For example, it is reported that after five to thirty minutes of exercise, the cholesterol content in the blood will drop, especially for the elderly with elevated cholesterol. Some people have also studied the metabolism of the elderly with arteriosclerosis before and after exercise, and found that after five to six months of exercise, the albumin content in the blood increased, but the globulin and cholesterol content decreased significantly, and the symptoms of arteriosclerosis were greatly alleviated. These results can explain the good effect of Tai Ji Chuan on substance metabolism in vivo.

(5) The influence of Tai Ji Chuan on the digestive system.

As mentioned above, because the improvement of the activity ability of the nervous system can improve the functional activities of other systems, it can prevent and treat some digestive system diseases (obstacles of movement, secretion and absorption) caused by the dysfunction of the nervous system. In addition, respiratory exercise can stimulate the gastrointestinal tract mechanically and improve the blood circulation of the digestive tract, so it can promote digestion and prevent constipation, which is also very important for the elderly.

To sum up, Tai Ji Chuan is a kind of relaxed and gentle fitness exercise that conforms to physiological laws. It has a good influence on the central nervous system, strengthens the functions of heart, blood vessels and respiration, reduces blood stasis in the body and improves digestion and metabolism. Therefore, from a medical point of view, it is a good health gymnastics and medical gymnastics for patients.