Qigong as Medicine

[GeneChing]

Whatever works.

Qigong Lowers Depression Symptoms In Breast Cancer Patients
Meditating with Qigong has been shown to lower symptoms of depression in women undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer.
By Anthony Rivas | May 26, 2013 04:14 PM EDT

Qigong, a Chinese meditation technique that combines fluid movements and breathing, has long been valued for its calming, balance-restoring effect on the body. Recently published in the journal Cancer, a study has found that practicing qigong may reduce symptoms and improve the quality of life of women who are receiving radiotherapy to treat their breast cancer.

Qigong involves coordinating slow, dance-like movements with breathing in order to achieve a healthy flow of energy, or qi, throughout the body. It is focused more on longevity, stress reduction, and improved health through mind and body, according to The New York Times.

Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center followed 96 Chinese women in Shanghai over the course of five to six weeks of radiotherapy. Half of the women were assigned to a qigong group, while the other half received standard treatment. Women in the qigong group reported less symptoms of depression at the end of radiotherapy than the women who received standard care. Furthermore, women who reported being the most depressed at the beginning of the study showed the steepest decline in depressive symptoms, according to the Houston Chronicle.

"It is important for cancer patients to manage stress because it can have a profoundly negative effect on biological systems and inflammatory profiles," said Dr. Lorenzo Cohen, professor in MD Anderson's Departments of General Oncology and Behavioral Science.

According to the American Cancer Society, up to one in four people with cancer develop clinical depression.

Cohen directs the Integrative Medicine Program at MD Anderson. Integrative medicine is distinct from alternative medicine, which he says consists of unproven treatments in place of traditional care, and complementary medicine, which consists of unprove treatments in addition to traditional care. He says that integrative medicine is more of a philosophy of care, a way for the doctor to focus on the person as a whole.

"We focus on the relation between the practitioner and the patients, and we are informed by evidence — we don't want to be prescribing things to our patients for which there is no evidence of safety or of benefit," he said. "Also, in integrative medicine we seek to make use of all possible avenues for healing that may work."

Cohen believes that one day qigong and other mind-body practices will be integrated to the point that they are just another part of standard care.

"Ideally, we would work at the whole level," he said. "We would work to get that person's body that has become hospitable to cancer to be as inhospitable as possible going forward."

Source: Chen Z, Meng Z, Milbury K, Bei W, Zhang Y, Thornton B, Liao Z, Wei Q, Chen J, Guo X, Liu L, McQuade J, Kirschbaum C, Cohen L. Qigong improves quality of life in women undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer: Results of a randomized controlled trial. Cancer. May 2013.

[Sal Canzonieri]

Qigong lowers blood pressure:

http://www.healthcmi.com/acupuncturi...e/792-qigongbp

[Neeros]

Amazing how much benefit just the external qigong forms can give people. Add in the skills to boot and its truly breathtaking the results that can be gained.

[GeneChing]

Follow the link to find the complete study. They implemented Wu Xing Ping Heng Gong 五行平衡功 for this.

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:485341. doi: 10.1155/2013/485341. Epub 2013 Jul 31.
Effects of qigong exercise on fatigue, anxiety, and depressive symptoms of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness: a randomized controlled trial.
Chan JS, Ho RT, Wang CW, Yuen LP, Sham JS, Chan CL.
Source

Centre on Behavioral Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Abstract

Background. Anxiety/depressive symptoms are common in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome- (CFS-) like illness. Qigong as a modality of complementary and alternative therapy has been increasingly applied by patients with chronic illnesses, but little is known about the effect of Qigong on anxiety/depressive symptoms of the patients with CFS-like illness. Purpose. To investigate the effects of Qigong on fatigue, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in patients with CFS-illness. Methods. One hundred and thirty-seven participants who met the diagnostic criteria for CFS-like illness were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a waitlist control group. Participants in the intervention group received 10 sessions of Qigong training twice a week for 5 consecutive weeks, followed by home-based practice for 12 weeks. Fatigue, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline and postintervention. Results. Total fatigue score [F(1,135) = 13.888, P < 0.001], physical fatigue score [F(1,135) = 20.852, P < 0.001] and depression score [F(1,135) = 9.918, P = 0.002] were significantly improved and mental fatigue score [F(1,135) = 3.902, P = 0.050] was marginally significantly improved in the Qigong group compared to controls. The anxiety score was not significantly improved in the Qigong group. Conclusion. Qigong may not only reduce the fatigue symptoms, but also has antidepressive effect for patients with CFS-like illness. Trial registration HKCTR-1200.

[Sal Canzonieri]

here's an interesting research paper about Qigong and cancer therapy:
http://www.qigonginstitute.org/html/...wQG4Cancer.pdf

[mawali]

here's an interesting research paper about Qigong and cancer therapy:
http://www.qigonginstitute.org/html/...wQG4Cancer.pdf

The studies shows promise but what impacted me negatively in the "Problems and Limitations" section was the commentary that "Qigong may be an alternative for Western medicin"e and this is blatently false in all regards. Qigong is positively part of complementary strategy and adjunct therapy but can never be called alternative since the latter implies in place of, which is nonsensical.

Even Guo Lin went through the allopathic phase since she was diagnosed by an MD and had numerous surgeries. All of her students went through the same stage of fact finding and soul searching and they realized that they had to make a lifelong change, whatever that may have entailed. Qigong is definitely positive but it cannot be used instead of, or cannot replace allopathic medicine.

I guess one can call qigong yin and allopathic medicine yang, part of a total care paradigm!

[marklee]

I am a believer of qigong, and have been practicing it for years. I've also seen how the exercise has helped people with serious illness like cancer. It is, however, a supplement so you should not expect to see miracles. The better way is to do the exercise and seek medical advice as and when necessary. If you are patience and allow it time, it works.

[marklee]

Great article!

My only concern is that the layperson reading this will make the assumption that all they have to do is practice qigong and they will get better.
No doubt qigong is excellent adjunct therapy but the article fails to mention the procedures previous to qigong therapy, whether it be excision, chemotherapy, medication in conjunction with additonal therapies.
The degree/stage of cancer also figures prominently in the matter!

I do echo your concerns. Qigong is not a cure for cancer, it is a way to make your body stronger to help you fight the medical conditions. If you start doing it too late - say at the advance stage of cancer, it may not be as effective. Even then, I have seen people healed with the use of qigong. In these cases, the healing results not only from the control of chi, that also the mental strengths brought forth by the focus of mind and the determination to overcome the medical conditions.

[GeneChing]

October 2013
Levels of fatigue and distress in senior prostate cancer survivors enrolled in a 12-week randomized controlled trial of Qigong

Rebecca A. Campo,
Neeraj Agarwal,
Paul C. LaStayo,
Kathleen O’Connor,
Lisa Pappas,
Kenneth M. Boucher,
Jerry Gardner,
Sierra Smith,
Kathleen C. Light,
Anita Y. Kinney

Abstract

Purpose

Fatigue is a commonly reported symptom by prostate cancer survivors and is associated with significant distress and declines in quality of life. Qigong is a mind–body activity that consists of both physical activity and meditative aspects. This 12-week randomized controlled trial examined the feasibility and efficacy of a Qigong intervention for improving older prostate cancer survivors' levels of fatigue and distress.

Methods

Forty older (median age = 72, range = 58–93), fatigued (cut-off value of ≥1 on the CTCAEv4.0, >20 on a fatigue grading scale), and sedentary (<150 min of moderate exercise/week) prostate cancer survivors were randomized to 12 weeks of Qigong or stretching classes. Primary outcomes were feasibility (i.e., retention and class attendance rates) and fatigue [Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy—Fatigue (FACIT-Fatigue)], and secondary outcome was distress [Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18)].

Results

Study retention rates did not significantly differ between study groups (Qigong = 80 %, stretching = 65 %, p = 0.48). The Qigong group had significantly higher class attendance than the stretching group (p = 0.04). The Qigong group had significantly greater improvements in the FACIT-Fatigue (p = 0.02) and distress (i.e., BSI-18 Somatization, Anxiety, & Global Severity Index, p's < 0.05), than the Stretching group.

Conclusions

This 12-week Qigong intervention was feasible and potentially efficacious in improving senior prostate cancer survivors' levels of fatigue and distress levels. Future, larger definitive randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these benefits in older prostate cancer survivors and in racially and ethnically diverse populations.

Implications for cancer survivors

Qigong may be an effective nonpharmacological intervention for the management of senior prostate cancer survivors' fatigue and distress.

As always, I'm curious what form of qigong, but this is just the abstract so that detail might be within the full report.

[rett]

As always, I'm curious what form of qigong, but this is just the abstract so that detail might be within the full report.

That study looks interesting!

E-mail address to the corresponding author is at the bottom left of the document here

http://link.springer.com/static-cont...0315-5/000.png

It's likely she'd fill you in on the qigong method used if you email her. I'd be interested in the answer as well.

[SoCo KungFu]

So, I for some reason this sub-forum is some kind of botched with threads appearing in one screen and not in another. But I'll be ****ed if my long ass response goes un-completed because of something with a thread disappearing.

So if that thread gets recovered, or uncovered, or discovered, or whatever, please merge this with that thread. In the meantime...

Gene posted this article.

http://link.springer.com/article/10....764-013-0315-5

And my response, with his quote, to discuss said article.

As always, I'm curious what form of qigong, but this is just the abstract so that detail might be within the full report.

There are a lot of red flags with this study.
For starters, its strange that I can't access it. Well not that in of itself. But I can access this journal through my university account, and its not listed in the journal that its supposed to be in. Not necessarily anything, just weird.

1) No blinding was used at all (and for the record, I don't think they could in this study), at least not for the patients. Patients doing qigong knew they were doing qigong and patients doing regular stretching knew they were doing regular stretching. For some reason they blinded the statisticians. Not sure why that is, I've never seen that in any of the other literature I've read. I don't particularly see what point it would accomplish if you aren't blinding the test subjects. The statisticians are just crunching numbers for people who can't do it themselves.
2) Statistics are a mess. They report p-values, which is nice, but they don't tell me what test they performed. I'm assuming a t-test because they are comparing treatments which should give them sample means and deviations. However, since they don't actually provide the test statistic, nor the degree of freedom, I can't actually say. What they do provide is a confidence interval, which could come from any number of tests. Which also tells me they have a freggin test stat of some sort but fail to provide for whatever reason. More on this later.
3) I see no control. They say its a parallel group randomized control trial. Nice, but what is the control? I'm assuming that its a paired test, meaning the subject is its own control via a before/after paired assessment. But since that would also require a paired statistical test, which as I mention isn't divulged, I can't say for certain. Or the control for the qigong group could be the stretching group. This isn't uncommon if you are trying to say that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment. But you still need to test against placebo. And you still need to control for individual variation (ie. a paired test).

About the stats; so the author gives a p-value for a test comparing feasibility and a test comparing fatigue levels reported. Its important to note exactly what it is they are trying to analyze. Only one part actually pertains to the qigong (the fatigue test). This is based on some clinical guideline I'm not familiar with. Feasibility, as the author describes it, is simply class attendance and retention rate. So, class retention/attendance and change in fatigue/distress.

The author reports p-values for retention (p=0.48), attendance (0.04), and improvement in reported fatigue (p=0.02) and distress (p<0.05). Here's the problem. The trial is on 40 patients. Their power analysis said they need at least 24 to determine a difference of 7.5. So they're good there. But, retention did not significantly differ. That is technically what you'd want if you were testing efficacy (ie a better improvement in fatigue and distress). But, they list that the qigong group had 80% retention while the stretching group 65% retention. So, if a 15% difference in retention is not statistically significant, now I'm questioning balance in their design. How do I know that say, 20 were in each group? That's important because one, it may screw the whole element of detection, but at very least balance dictates what statistics they will use. Which again, isn't outlined in the 2 pages we can view. That of itself makes me question all the other results. But moving on..

So attendance is determined to be significantly different, favoring the qigong group. Cool, that would be a good finding. Patient participation is important in a beneficial outcome. BUT, it wasn't blinded. We see infinite examples of the mentality in this country with people having unrealistic bias in favor of TCM simply because they feel western med has failed them. In a subjective study, this kills it all. But even more than that. The study says that friends and family were encouraged to participate with the patient in the classes. Ok, so now you've just confounded your study. Its no longer just about the patient, it may say nothing any longer about whether people like qigong more. It may simply be a matter of which group on average had a more willing support structure. You just killed your feasibility measure. So the tests of retention and attendance are garbage.

If the attendance is shown to be less in the stretching group, which it was, you can now also say nothing of efficacy. Her stats say that qigong improved reported fatigue and distress to a better degree that stretching (I say that loosely not knowing what tests she did). But my response, no shit. You had a 15% loss in retention and a statistically significant difference in attendance rate. Of course the one that gets attended to will produce better results. This is why in proper research programs, you are required to consult a statistician as part of your thesis defense. I have a freggin statistician on my committee, and I can do stats, for this very reason. To cover my ass. Ultimately, I find it interesting that the researcher would create a study with two conflicting measures. If attendance and retention are not the same, you can't say that qigong has efficacy in this design. If attendance and retention are the same, you can't make say that qigong is more feasible than standard protocols already in place. Maybe that wasn't the point, but typically if you are going to do a study, you are trying to show something of value. That seemed to be the point in her statement of significance, that she thought we could do better.

Now, I realize this is a pilot study. Even more, I realize this is a study by a graduate student in a non research based program. So this is some canned trial she had to do as part of her social psychology degree, which may be a M.A. I doubt its a MS without thesis research. But given that I'm also a grad student, I have no sympathy in ripping apart her design, especially when mine are held to a much higher standard. It aggravates me that this is even published.

This is an exact example of why TCM researchers need to start taking legitimate degrees before going into integrative med. Or at the very least, these schools of integrated med need to start adjuncting legitimate statisticians and have them teach a course, or three. I have yet to see a one that held to proper research design. I mean, I took classes on research design as an undergrad, I expect a graduate student to do better than this.

Anyways, this is what I got from just 2 pages of the paper. At this point, I don't see what difference knowing which qigong she used in the study will make.

And now I'm admittedly being nit-picky, by why the f did she have faculty from the dept of theater on her list of co-authors? And that's actually kind of important. Because the only thing I can think that an actor/actress would add to this study is if that person were one of the treatment administrators. And since I'm guessing they tested against a standard stretch protocol, and there is a physical therapist also listed, I'm going to assume that the theater person was doing the qigong. Yeah...that's interesting...

Did you know that a study by a Harvard professor was recently published in a major journal with no less than 9 fatal experimental flaws in his design? I say this as to not come off as bashing a TCM publication. I wish they would do a decent trial. I want to see true, well thought design with some interesting results. I really do. But from this, the most we can say is that some sort of exercise aids fatigue and lowers stress. Awesome, now tell me something new.

[Orion Paximus]

So, I for some reason this sub-forum is some kind of botched with threads appearing in one screen and not in another. But I'll be ****ed if my long ass response goes un-completed because of something with a thread disappearing.

So if that thread gets recovered, or uncovered, or discovered, or whatever, please merge this with that thread. In the meantime...

It's still here

http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/...ng-as-Medicine

you have to adjust your settings too see topics from "the beginning" instead of "this month" which is the default.

[mawali]

The same thing happens in allopathic oriented clinical research. Some statisticians (they do the actual analyses) become creative with the real data and make assumptions (unrelated to the actual analysis) and some do seem to get away with it.
A better way to get around this is to have another person do the re-analyses and see if they come up with the same results. Cochrane did a review of taijiquan studies and they showed their process as a tool for further study and information. One can google the information. If I find it,I will post

[SoCo KungFu]

The same thing happens in allopathic oriented clinical research. Some statisticians (they do the actual analyses) become creative with the real data and make assumptions (unrelated to the actual analysis) and some do seem to get away with it.
A better way to get around this is to have another person do the re-analyses and see if they come up with the same results. Cochrane did a review of taijiquan studies and they showed their process as a tool for further study and information. One can google the information. If I find it,I will post

What do you mean by, "they do the actual analyses?" I have a response, but I'm not sure what you mean by that. At any rate, all research makes assumptions. Some assumptions are based on previous experimentation, some assumptions are mathematical. But they are there. Its whether you can justify them that counts.

[mawali]

What do you mean by, "they do the actual analyses?" I have a response, but I'm not sure what you mean by that. At any rate, all research makes assumptions. Some assumptions are based on previous experimentation, some assumptions are mathematical. But they are there. Its whether you can justify them that counts.

In clinical research (big pharma) it is the statistician who does final analyses. Despite the often rigorous attention to detail, statistical 'sleight; of hand' sometimes allows for creative use of data, which allows for bad drugs to reach the market. It is obvious that all research makes assumptions but the extent of it (clinical and statistical significance) can and is obscured by the profit and unholy alliances that exist despite the Hippocratic oath or the objectivity of data. I recall in a recent study I participated in there were a bunch of people (small sample, that is???) who were experiencing some adverse events and it was significant as they were serious adverse events but I, the lowly Data Analyst was called out for not minding my own beezness. At that point, the statistician did take a look at my finding but according to his observations, these were not statistically significant ENOUGH. Fast forward to a few years later, the class of drugs that cause COX 2 inhibition were deemed dangerous and labelling information had to be updated to conform to new updated requirements. The bottom line seems to be that profit is the only motive (and that is not representative of the Hippocratic oath) while negating the safety of those who would otherwise benefit from it.

Qigong tends to get away with basic concepts and methodology (name of system is not mentioned, days to some effect to be shown, etc) or the beneficial results tends to be extrapolated to ALL Qigong, which is a serious mistake. There is no doubt that the "teacher effect" accounts for a benefit or just the social component of someone caring the indivudal in question. Actually much criteria is lacking in qigong research though a recent study with falungong (yes, of all methods out there) does show that qigong has the potential to change DNA expression but that extent was not conclusively shown but the findings are exemplary since the modern tools of research (HPLA and opther chromatograpic tools) were part of the modern scientific community.
You can check out the Cochrane review pertaining to taijiquan and qigong to see what I am implying! They do have pdf files for download and give a far more wider and systematic exposition of faults within complementary methods of health!