This is huge!
I can’t emphasize more the importance of the recent announcement by the Veterans Administration (VA) to include Tai Chi (T’ai Chi or Taiji) Chuan and meditation as part of the veterans’ treatments for several diseases such as anxiety, cardiovascular disease, depression, fall prevention, fibromyalgia, hypertension, low back pain, obesity, pain (including post-operative pain), and Post Traumatic Symptom Disorder (PTSD).
Due to the trouble with the over-prescription of opioid narcotics, the Department of Veterans Affairs analyzed how it was prescribing pain medication and explored alternative therapies like Tai Chi, Meditation, and Yoga. They did studies on the efficacy of opioids, compared to aspirin and ibuprofen. Since then, “We’ve reduced the rate of prescriptions for opioids to veterans by 51 percent and we are the leaders in alternative therapies,” stated Robert Wilkie, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs in April. Two years ago, I reported “The U.S. Army enlists Tai Chi in the fight against addiction”. I am extremely pleased to witness the VA leaping forward, undergoing a major culture change, finding a safer solution to treating our heroes, which has no side effects and is more cost-effective.
In June the VA decided to take a bold step of including non-pharmacologic approaches to clinical conditions to treat the veterans. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Acupuncture, Alexander Technique, Biofeedback, Clinical Hypnosis, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Dry Needling, Exercise, Guided Imagery, Hydrotherapy, Massage Therapy, Meditation, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Mindfulness Meditation, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction, Music Therapy, Myofascial Release, Relaxation Exercises, Relaxation Therapies, Spinal Manipulation, Tai Chi, and Yoga are allowed to be prescribed to treat Anxiety, Cardiovascular Disease, Depression, Fall Prevention, Fibromyalgia, Hypertension, Insomnia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Low Back Pain, Migraine, Nausea & Vomiting, Obesity, Pain, Post Traumatic Disorder Syndrome (PTDS), Substance Use Disorder, and Tobacco Dependence. But not all 23 interventions are approved to treat all 16 diseases. You can see the slide show below to find out which therapies are approved for what diseases. You can also see the studies for each disease.
Personally, I am not sure of the differences among several mindfulness therapies Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Mindfulness Meditation, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Scientists have long called Tai Chi: “Meditation in Motion”. But I can’t get a confirmation on whether a Tai Chi class can suffice as a meditation session for certain diseases that approve of meditation as a method of treatment, e.g. Anxiety and Depression. I am somewhat disappointed that Qigong did not make to the list. Nevertheless, I am more than thrilled to see the first big step the VA is taking.
David-Dorian Ross is a visionary and Tai Chi champion. He has simplified Tai Chi to a basic flow routine and coined the term TaijiFit for it. According to David-Dorian Ross, a veteran can take group or private Tai Chi lessons without paying anything if he has a prescription from a VA doctor. The Tai Chi instructor will be paid directly by the veteran’s medical insurance. Unlike Medicare’s SilverSneaker program, which pays Tai Chi instructor at a very low rate, the VA program will pay a Tai Chi instructor $20-35 per hour per student. In other words, if you can get 5 veterans to take a group class with you for an hour, you can be compensated between $100 to $175 an hour.
As we all know that Tai Chi instructors come in all shapes. Some organizations certify people from the street who don’t have any background in Tai Chi at all after just one weekend of training. To ensure the quality of the Tai Chi teaching, TaijiFit is working with an insurance company, OPTUM to set up a network of Tai Chi Chuan lesson providers. TaijiFit will train and certify the instructors. David-Dorian Ross said that his organization would train 1,000 instructors in 12 months on the east coast alone.
(Edited by Sifu William Phillips. Note: The Editorial Board of www.VioletLiTaiChi.com is not responsible for the content of the article.)
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This is great news!
Is it possible to have a direct link to the evidence table.
The copy is quite blurred.
Thank you.
I was given the doc by the VA office and I don’t have the link. Let me email you the pages.
Me too Violet, I would like to see the evidence. Next time I’m in St. Louis and have some time, I’d like to stop on by for a silk reeling session.
Dan, I will send the info to you. You are welcome anytime.
I would also like to receive that document
I will email you a copy.
Count me in with wanting a copy of the evidence table, thank you.
Hi Violet. This is a great article. I am looking for clarification on how Vets actually take classes under this new program. Do the Vets “have” to go to a TaiChiFit instructor/class or can they go to any tai chi instructor if they have a Rx from a VA doctor? Are there special requirements for the classes?
Thank you so much for this information!
Jim
Jim, thanks for your kind feedback. I am not exactly sure exactly how the insurance will pay. But I am certain that the insurance company OPTUM will not just pay any person who claims to be a qualified instructor. I have not had a good contact at OPTUM yet to get further clarification how they will judge an instructor is “qualified” or not. I like to get this article out to everyone and people can provide feedback. Thanks.