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Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), the virus that causes chicken pox. Older adults are more likely to develop shingles than younger adults. More than half of those who develop shingles are 60 or older. The rash can go away, but then occur again. Even after the rash is gone, the pain can linger. Shingles pain tends to be more severe in older than in younger people. It can be so severe that it lowers quality of life.

People with stronger immunity to VZV seem less likely to have attacks of shingles than do people with weaker immunity. This suggests that treatments that boost this immunity might protect against shingles and shingles pain. In a recent study, a VZV vaccine cut the number of shingles attacks that older adults had by more than half. It also cut post-rash pain by nearly two-thirds.

In another recent but small study, researchers found that a version of Tai Chi - a traditional Chinese martial art that combines aerobic exercise, relaxation and meditation - boosted immunity to VZV. This version of Tai Chi is called Tai Chi Chih (TCC).

New Research in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

The researchers studied 112 healthy older adults, aged 59 to 86. All had had the virus at some point in their lives. At the start of the study, the researchers measured each adult's immunity to VZV.

The researchers then randomly assigned half of the adults to Tai Chi classes and the other half to health education classes. The Tai Chi classes met for 40 minutes three times a week. The health education classes met for the same amount of time. The adults in the study went to their assigned classes for 16 weeks, then they got the VZV vaccine, and then they went to their assigned classes for another 9 weeks.

Eight, 12, 16, and 25 weeks after the adults had started the classes, the researchers measured their immunity to VZV.

Adults who took the Tai Chi classes developed much greater immunity to VZV than the adults who took the health education classes, the researchers found. In fact, the Tai Chi classes boosted adults' immunity to VZV just as much as the VZV vaccine itself did. In addition, the combination of Tai Chi and VZV vaccine boosted immunity to VZV to levels comparable to those found in middle-aged adults who have substantially lower risk of shingles.

It's possible that Tai Chi could boost immunity to other infectious diseases, and also how well other vaccines work, the researchers conclude. More research is needed.

What Should I Do?

Tai Chi and other forms of exercise offer many benefits. Talk to your healthcare provider about exercise and get his or her OK before beginning an exercise program.

Visit Aging in the Know for more information about exercise and shingles.

The summary above is from the full report titled, "Augmenting Immune Responses to Varicella-Zoster Virus in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Tai Chi." It is in the April 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (Volume 55, Issue 4). The report is authored by Michael R. Irwin, M.D., Richard Olmstead, Ph.D., and Michael N. Oxman, M.D.