LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In Louisville, North Healthcare offers a tai chi class that’s helping people with multiple sclerosis and other neurological conditions. 

What You Need To Know

  • Norton offers in-person tai chi classes for patients with neurological conditions twice a week     

  • Classes are also offered online via Zoom 

  • Patients say the classes help manage their pain and improve symptoms with conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease

  • The program has been meeting for 10 years now

“I’ve seen some miraculous changes in people’s health,” said Lloyd Kelly, who teacher Norton’s Neuro Tai Chi classes.

For Kelly, the martial art of Tai Chi is more than just a hobby or gentle exercise. He’s been doing tai chi since he was a boy, and for 10 years now, he’s been helping patients with conditions like MS and Parkinson’s Disease in his classes through the Norton Neuroscience Institute.

“The most gratifying thing is to see how well they’re doing. We have six or seven from the original cohort, which was 10 people. That’s quite a retention rate,” Kelly said. “And they’re doing well, and a lot of these students are doing better now than when they started ten years ago.”

Edi Deering is one of them. “We walk better, we breathe better, we sleep better,” Deering said. “Tai chi is good for us.”

The movements complement the patients’ other treatment regimens, helping with strength, flexibility, balance and breathing. Tai chi also helps reduce stress and depression through meditation.

Kelly tailors the movements to help with the neurological issues his students are facing, like Deering’s multiple sclerosis.

“This is kind of my life blood,” Deering said. “It’s camaraderie, but it’s also working to keep my posture going and my walking ability, so that I live better.”

Kelly added, “It’s self-reinforcing. They walk out of here and they feel better, and then that motivates you to come back.”

Susan Small is another patient with MS who’s kept coming back since the class started ten years ago. Small says tai chi helps her manage pain and reduces her number of falls.

“It has changed my life,” Small said. “I don’t ever have an intention of giving tai chi up.”

Small even got certified to teach tai chi last year. Now, she can fill in for Kelly when he needs time off, so there’s no interruption to the class.

“On those days when you think you just can’t get out of bed and you are just feeling really low, you remember that you have friends here or that regardless of how you’re feeling, that you’re going to feel better when you leave,” Small smiled.

Norton’s neuro tai chi classes are held in-person in Louisville twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Norton Health and Wellness Center on Dupont Road.

Virtual classes are also offered through Zoom, including classes specifically for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Patients of all ages and abilities are invited to join the classes. Patients’ caretakers can also attend the classes as their guests.

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