A case study of simultaneous recovery from multiple physical symptoms with medical qigong therapy.

Chen KW, Turner FD.

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ.

BACKGROUND: It is well known that qigong practice is beneficial to human health, but it is less known, even in China, that qigong may also be an effective therapy to treat various diseases.

This report documents the story of a 58-year-old Caucasian male patient with a series of chronic conditions,
including high prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels (but not a confirmed cancer),

• atrial septal defect,
• asthma,
• allergies,
• multiple injuries following an automobile accident,
• high blood pressure, and edema in the legs.

Can medical qigong help such a patient to cure multiple symptoms simultaneously? METHOD: The intensive qigong workshop involved the training and practice of gathering qi, magnifying qi energy and using it for self-healing with visualization and guided imaginary; plus supervised energetic fasting. The patient practiced qigong 4-plus hours per day during intensive training, and approximately 1 to 2 hours daily thereafter. About 10 sessions of external qi healing were performed by a qigong master for his pain and systematic adjustment. Settings/Location: The intensive medical qigong workshop took place in the at Middlesex, NJ;
and the patient practiced qigong at home for the rest of time.

RESULTS: After the workshop and qigong therapy, the patient discontinued all medications (8 in total) and lost 35 pounds; his blood pressure dropped from 220/110 with medication to 120/75 without medication (in 2 weeks); pulse rate dropped from 88 beats per minute resting to 68 beats per minute in the mornings and 55 bpm in the evening; the edema in his legs went away; symptoms of asthma or allergies disappeared; the PSA level dropped from 11 to 4 (normal), all without any medications.

CONCLUSION: This kind of simultaneous recovery from multiple "incurable" conditions and other documented successes cannot be explained by any known medical theories, and call for formal clinical trials to closely examine the qigong self-healing therapy.

Case 2

Benefits of external qigong therapy on morphine-abstinent mice and rats.

Mo Z, Chen KW, Ou W, Li M.

Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the First Military Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

OBJECTIVE: To exclude possible psychological effects of qigong therapy in the treatment of addiction effectively, morphine-dependence models need to be established in mice and rats.

METHOD: The effects of external qi on withdrawal syndrome were examined in naloxone-precipitated mice and rats in three randomized control experiments: naloxone-precipitated test in morphine-dependent mice (n = 100 in 5 groups, 20 mice each group); conditioned position preference test in morphine-abstinent mice (n = 30 for 3 groups, 10 each); and naloxone-precipitated test with paired box in morphine-dependent rats (n = 40 for 4 groups, 10 each).

RESULTS: These experiments showed that morphine-dependent mice, after external qigong (EQ) therapy, had decreased incidence of jumping and lower jumping frequencies, and attenuated loss of body weight. After EQ therapy, morphine-dependent rats had reduced withdrawal scores and body weight loss was inhibited. In the conditioned place preference test, the time spent in the drug-paired box was significantly shorter for the qigong group than for the morphine group.

CONCLUSION: These results suggest that qigong might have an inhibitory effect on withdrawal syndrome, and reduce the dependence potential in mice. Three different designs confirm that the impact of qigong therapy on morphine-abstinent mice and rats is reliable and substantial. Further research on the effectiveness and the mechanism of qigong therapy on addiction is warranted.

Case 3

Exploratory studies of Qigong therapy for cancer in China.

Chen K, Yeung R.

Department of Psychiatry, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 671 Hoes Lane, UBHC-D453, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. chenke@umdnj.edu

The authors reviewed more than 50 studies of qigong therapy for cancer in China, in 3 categories: clinical studies on cancer patients, in vitro studies on laboratory-prepared cancer cells, and in vivo studies on cancer-infected animals.
Most of the clinical studies involved observation of cancer patients' self-practice of qigong. Although no double-blind clinical trials were found among patient studies, many had a control.
The qigong groups showed more improvement or had a better survival rate than conventional methods alone.

In vitro studies report the inhibitory effect of qi emission on cancer growth, and in vivo studies find that qigong-treated groups have significantly reduced tumor growth or longer survival among cancer-infected animals.
However, there is much room for improvement in these studies, and some require replication to verify the findings.

Qigong therapy is an area that is often neglected by mainstream medicine and research, but our review strongly suggests that qigong deserves further study as a supplement to conventional cancer treatment.
 

Case 4

Sustained improvement produced by nonpharmacologic intervention in fibromyalgia:

Creamer P, Singh BB, Hochberg MC, Berman BM.

Complementary Medicine Program, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this pilot study was to examine the practicality of delivering a package of nonpharmacologic, behavioral-based treatment, previously found to be effective in chronic back pain, to patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and to assess the efficacy of the intervention using a range of outcome measures up to 4 months posttreatment.

METHODS: Participants with FM (n = 28) formed a single group for 8 sessions at weekly intervals. Each session comprised an education/cognitive-behavioral component, formal relaxation/meditation training, and instruction in a Chinese movement therapy (Qi Gong).

RESULTS: Twenty of 28 subjects completed at least 5 of the 8 sessions.
Significant improvement was seen in the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and a range of other outcome measures including tender points and pain threshold. Improvement was sustained 4 months after the end of the intervention.

CONCLUSION: A simple behavioral intervention using large groups can be administered to subjects with FM and appears to produce sustained benefit in a range of outcomes. Controlled trials are currently being planned.