TCC in Health Field

I am a Recreational Therapist at Washoe Medical Center hospital in Reno, Nevada. Recently, I taught three Occupational Therapists the whole form of TCC; and now we are working together as a multi-disciplinary team. TCC is proving to be very beneficial in our work with chronic pain patients.

As health care therapists we work with two different groups: people who will have pain for the rest of their lives and people who have disabilities they can learn to live with, who may or may not have constant pain. We are teaching TCC as a method for coping with chronic pain. It has been necessary to revise certain movements to accomodate individual patients. The movements still look the same, we just modify the movement depending upon the patient’s movement ability. For instance, some patients can stand and some can’t stand. Several patients may only have the use of one leg or arm, and often they need to use chairs to assist with their balance. Sometimes their movement is restricted due to braces as in the case of rehabilitation patients (people with permanent or temporary disabilities due to spinal cord injuries, head injuries, stroke or multiple sclerosis). The essence of the whole form and individual movements does not change. I just know what seems appropriate, but beyond specific modifications the form is the same.

As the Recreational Therapist, I was able to teach TCC as in-service to the Occupational Therapist (OT) department. I taught the form in nine one-hour sessions. Then it took one week to teach the modifications. Now we are working with the patients and also meeting on our own once a week for refinement.

Part of my success was due to a previous OT who introduced T’ai Chi Ch’uan. So T’ai Chi was already “in the door”. However due to the innate simplicity of the T’ai Chi Chih, I have already established a team of OT’s who work directly with patients. My boss has approved of TCC as beneficial movement for chronic pain patients.

It is very exciting teaching TCC within the health care field. This field is constantly looking for new techniques and methods for working with chronic pain patients. People don’t turn away from TCC, they grab it because it works! I see TCC as something that should happen within the whole field of both Recreational and Occupational Therapies. The three OTs I have working with me now all want to become accredited TCC instructors! Who knows–perhaps we will create a National Organization of Occupational Therapists who teach this modified T’ai Chi Chih to others who work in the health care field!

I would like to work with other TCC instructors who have experience in the health care field, to standardize this slightly modified form. I am open to suggestions and your experiences. Please feel free to write or call.

Sincerely,

– Robyn McCulloch
Truckee, CA