This was the form I learned, too. I'm not surprised by the medical findings, however. In this form are 90 movements to be memorized. Furthermore, this specific martial-oriented Tai Chi, I discovered, carried over into my real-time movements.
My son is a martial artist. He's recently discovered the Louise Hay/Mind Over Matter philosophies and has been asking me about these. There is much to this, but OTOH, there are limits.
Shingles do hurt very much, I've heard from pals who've had them. I hope you are recovered from shingles.
I wonder now if my training didn’t help. I am a big believer in the medicinal effects of Tai Chi Chuan as well as the self defense aspects, something a lot of people do not understand since they see it as a kind of slow dance which it is not.