Sitting tai chi provides stroke survivors with recovery benefits similar to those achieved with standard rehabilitation, a new study finds. Tai chi involves a series of slow movements of the hands, arms, neck, legs and core combined with deep breathing. Researchers developed a tai chi routine that stroke survivors can do while sitting. “Tai chi has a long history as a form of exercise in China,” said lead author Jie Zhao, a lecturer at Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in China. “We revised the tai chi movements for people who have weakness or partial limb paralysis. It is tailored so that participants can move one arm with the help of the healthy arm.” The new study included 160 adults (average age: 63) in China who had suffered their first ischemic stroke within the past six months and still had the use of at least one arm. (Ischemic stroke is one caused by …