What Is Qigong And How It Can Be Used In Physical Therapy

What exactly is Qigong? Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice used to promote not only physical health but mental health as well. Qigong is considered a form of meditation and is described as a “mind-body-spirit practice” (Bouguyon) that can increase all aspects of an individual’s health. The Chinese word Qi means (“subtle breath” or “vital energy”) and Gong (“skill cultivated through steady practice”) (Bouguyon). This practice can help all kinds of people even if they do not have any mental or physical health problems, Qigong has also been used as a great way to relax the entire body especially when stressed. This form of meditation uses a combination of breathing exercises and subtle motions of the body and even some self-massage to help relax the muscles. Qigong can be used in a physical therapy setting to help all kinds of patients that have all kinds of physical or mental health issues. There have been multiple studies done on the effects of Qigong on many different kinds of patients, some patients have diseases such as Parkinson’s others are perfectly healthy with no issues at all.

Qigong has been found to have many benefits for people with chronic disorders and those that have pain, but it is very beneficial to everyone even if they do not have a health issue. Cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD), and heart disease are just I few health issues that qigong has been proven to help. “In conjunction with medication, qigong was found to have the potential to improve balance and motor function in patients with Parkinson’s disease (Klein).” Qigong has also been used to help relax the human mind and the muscles of the body, it is an easy and simple way to improve overall health. Anyone can do Qigong; it does not matter how old or young they are, and a good session can take only five to 10 minutes. However, it is not uncommon for some people to do it for 30 minutes to an hour a few times a week.

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Qigong has many positive affects on the people who practice it regularly, not only does it have great affects physically it also can have good affects with the mind. It can relax the body and relieve it of stress, it is also said that it can help people with all kinds of pain. Anxiety and depression are both very serious health issues, and they affect many people. Qigong has been proven to reduce the symptoms of depression making the participants better. Tsang said “At 12 weeks, the experimental group participants had significant reductions of depressive symptoms” after an experiment with elderly people who suffered from depression who practiced qigong. Practicing Qigong can help with blood flow through the body, it also warms up muscles and other tissues within the body. An experiment was done on children that performed Qigong to see if circulation was improved “ the children developed the ability to quickly activate and increase the hands microcirculation, thus increasing the hands temperature in a shorter period of time” (Matos). This experiment proves that Qigong can be used to help circulation in the body and could be used as a warmup before stretching.

Qigong can be used in a physical therapy setting for all kinds of patients with different health issues and it can be used with patients that are a young and old. Qigong has even been used to help patients that have been diagnosed with cancer. “Very few risks are associated with MQ, and the potential benefits can have a positive effect on the physical and mental health of patients with cancer (Overcash).” It is a great therapeutic exercise for patients who have balance issues and patients that just have some type of pain. A patient who has decreased motor function can use qigong to help improve that issue. Patients who have trouble with gait such as people who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease can use Qigong to help improve their gait. Qigong would also be beneficial to do with patients before a session as a warmup right before stretching. Patients who are stressed and can be tense before or after physical therapy can use Qigong to help them relax. Because qigong is easy to learn and takes no equipment to perform patients can do it at their home and not just at the physical therapy clinic they go to. It could even work well as a home exercise program (HEP) that the therapist would give them and show them how to do all the movements. The patient could use the home exercise program once a day or every time they feel stressed out or tense. Patients who have hypertension (high blood pressure) or other pulmonary problems can use Qigong to help them relax and lower their blood pressure, especially after a treatment or exercise that could have made their blood pressure rise.

In conclusion, qigong is an easy to learn Chinese practice that can be used to promote health in the people who use it. Practicing qigong regularly can help people of all ages and with all kinds of phycological and physiological health conditions. Qigong has been experimented with on Parkinson’s disease, Cardiac obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer and several along with several other health issues to see if it can help with the affects of those diseases. It has shown affects of improvements with some of issues. For instance, it has been used to help improve gait with people who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Unfortunately for some health problems it has only shown minimal improvements and nothing really significant. Qigong can also be affective with patients who struggle with depression and anxiety as well. Qigong can be used in a physical therapy setting before and after a treatment or workout. It can also be used to help warm a patient up before an exercise or help a patient relax their muscles if they are really tense. Qigong can also be used for a patient if they have bad balance or decreased motor function as well. Qigong can be given and instructed to a patient as a home exercise program for them to do on a regular basis or whenever they feel stressed or tense.

References

1. Bouguyon, C. (n.d.). What is Qigong? Retrieved October 24, 2020, from https://www.nqa.org/what-is-qigong-
2. Klein, P. J., Baumgarden, J., & Schneider, R. (2019). Qigong and Tai Chi as Therapeutic Exercise: Survey of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Addressing Physical Health Conditions. Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine, 25(5), 48–53
3. Matos, L. C., Sousa, C. M., Gonçalves, M., Gabriel, J., Machado, J., & Greten, H. J. (2015). Qigong as a Traditional Vegetative Biofeedback Therapy: Long-Term Conditioning of Physiological Mind-Body Effects. BioMed Research International, 2015, 531789. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/531789
4. Tsang, H. H., Tsang, W. N., Jones, A. M., Fung, K. T., Chan, A. L., Chan, E., & Au, D. H. (2013). Psycho-physical and neurophysiological effects of qigong on depressed elders with chronic illness. Aging & Mental Health, 17(3), 336–348. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2012.732035
5. Overcash, J., Will, K. M., & Lipetz, D. W. (2013). The benefits of medical qigong in patients with cancer: a descriptive pilot study. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 17(6), 654–658. https://doi.org/10.1188/13.CJON.654-658