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Physically? I dont believe so.
No, I really don't think so.
Look at Indian 'saints' like Sri Ramana Maharshi. He could barely walk for most of his life, I believe, or he just chose not to. But he was a bloody guru.
Meditation has profound mental/spiritual effects, but I don't think any physical effects aside from maybe a light euphoria are exactly involved with meditation. I could be wrong, so don't quote me on this. ;]

There are, actually. The confirmed physiological benefits are on the brain, of course, but there are other stories that have no scientific backup (but which are inspiring nonetheless).

Brains scans of monks and nuns in meditation have shown interesting things. We know that their prefrontal cortexes are thicker - this is the part of the brain that deals with thinking, problem-solving, memory recall, et cetera. It's also the part of the brain that deteriorates with age and suffers the worst effects of neurological disorders such as alzheimer's.

Monastics in meditation are also able to, through sheer willpower, activate the parts of the brain associated with feeling happy. Without depending on external circumstances, the brain's pleasure zones light up like a christmas tree when they meditate on compassion and kindness.

Meditation has also been shown to decrease the severity of negative emotions. In the brain there are two small organ-like glands called the amygdalae which are responsible for strong emotions like anxiety, anger or fear. In meditation we are taught to label these emotions, call them what they are. Say to ourselves, "this is what anger feels like" and to just sit with that feeling. Talking about what you're experiencing.

In the brain, something remarkable is happening. The activity in the amygdalae decreases when you do this. Not only that, but the right ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain that deals with thinking in words) becomes more active. So there's this relationship between thinking in words and intense emotions.

There's also a part of the brain which is only known as "area 25." This area in depressed individuals is very active. In normal people, when something sad happens, this area becomes active, but it deactivates after time. In people with depression, this area never turns off. However meditation has been shown to switch off this part of the brain when it otherwise can't be talked down or drugged.

That really is not saying anything. No does it say that meditation I what made cancer vanish at all, which it wouldn't. seeing how cancer is a mutation of one cells you have to hold what you say with suspicion.

Keep in mind that asceticism is/was highly regarded by saintly folks of the East (and sometimes West), and that bodily denial, if not bodily mortification, was often seen as a sign of holiness. It did not result from meditation but from severely self-limited diets and sometimes severe physical practices. The saints would generally claim that the meditation both gave them the ability to forgo material pleasures for spiritual ones and sustained their bodies through hardships.

I'm unable to add very much to the conversation of meditation since it's practice it not stressed in the Shin Buddhist tradition as it is in others. What I can say however is that one of the things I learned about meditation is that it is not only limited to the practice of sitting. Any action, any task, or any practice that is committed to by the person performing it can be meditative if the practitioner strives to exist within the moment he or she is doing it. I know such practices such as tea ceremony, caligraphy, flower arranging, archery and I heard once motorcycle maintenance can all be seen as forms of meditation.

Personal Experience:

Ok. When i was born, I had a "hole" in my heart, and had to go to the hospital every few months to be checked out and treated. Well, the hole finally closed by the time i was about 6, but i always had trouble doing excessive exercise and had a fairly weak heart [which now come to think of it is probably why i am more of a nerd than a sporty person]. But anyway, when i was around 12, I was formally introduced to Buddhism and the concept of healing meditation and the chakras and all that stuff. Out of curiosity, I tried it. By meditating every day for about a month, I found that my heart was greatly strengthened. I didn't change my diet or amount of exercise, but somehow, that meditation changed it. It also helped with my spinal problem a couple months ago. So meditation, if done properly, really does help.