Does Qigong Practice Have Benefits on the Management of Parkinson’s Disease?

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder leading to loss of autonomy and a decline in quality of life. Qigong, a practice rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, has been positively reported on a variety of complaints of chronically ill patients and on gait imbalance in the elderly. PubMed and B-On databases were accessed during March 2018 to carry out an inventory of relevant scientific papers relating PD to Qigong. Fifteen articles were found and analyzed allowing us to highlight that: (1) in addition to medication, Qigong shows potential gains in PD management; (2) there is a stabilizing effect of motor symptoms and positive results in several frequent autonomy symptoms; (3) Qigong is highly accepted by patients, and is a cost-effective treatment that can be self-practiced, improving sleep quality, gait speed, functional mobility and quality of life, thus reducing the risk of falling; (4) Qigong improves muscle hardness, functional ability to walk, hand–eye coordination and balance. Despite the promising results, the limitations and the disparity of experimental designs of the included studies do not allow us to have a conclusive answer to the question whether Qigong benefits the management of PD or not.

Baduanjin Qigong Intervention by Telerehabilitation (TeleParkinson): A Proof-of-Concept Study in Parkinson’s Disease

“…The authors have also demonstrated that both self-selected and fast gait speed were strong predictors of falls (six-month history of falls) with a cut-off of 0.98 m/s and 1.32 m/s, respectively, which indicates that our participants would be very unlikely to be at risk of falling after the intervention. Improvements observed in gait speed were comparable to Tai Chi [ 31 , 62 ] and BDJ [ 28 , 29 ] interventions. A recent systematic review in PD [ 39 ] has failed to detect an effect on gait speed following virtual reality rehabilitation trainings, in comparison to conventional or traditional rehabilitation trainings, although a significant effect has been observed on stride length, balance, and mobility.…”

“…The BDJ form of Qigong exercise has an advantage over other modalities of training programs due to its positive balance between desirable characteristics for home-based physical interventions (cost-effective, simple, self-paced, safe, of low intensity and duration, and not requiring additional equipment or a large space) and potential beneficial effects [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 59 ]. Due to these characteristics, Qigong-based exercises have been investigated in patients with PD and have been proven promising to alleviate non-motor and motor-related symptoms and their associated functional outcomes [ 28 ]. Additionally, it appears to have a significant impact on reducing levels of anxiety and depression in people with physical or mental conditions [ 60 ].…”

“…A variety of physical interventions in PD [ 23 , 24 , 25 ], including Baduanjin Qigong (BDJ) [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ] and other similar interventions, such as Tai Chi training programs [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ], have been proven potentially effective in improving gait parameters, balance, physical function, walking capacity, mobility, physical activity participation, and reducing the incidence of falls in patients with PD. In the context of telerehabilitation, despite some lack of outcome standardization and mid- to long-term follow-up studies, recent evidence suggests that these types of technology-based interventions and delivery methods are feasible, safe, and more or as effective and costly as conventional in-person approaches in improving motor components associated with PD [ 17 , 38 , 39 ].…”

Can Yoga, Qigong, and Tai Chi Breathing Work Support the Psycho-Immune Homeostasis during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Narrative Review

“…These effects can be achieved through specific Qigong techniques, such as “White-Ball” in the Heidelberg model of TCM [ 93 , 103 ]. Qigong practice benefits have been shown on different components of wellbeing, such as cognitive behavior, distraction, social interaction, cardiovascular fitness, amine regulation and endorphin regulation [ 91 , 104 , 105 , 106 ]. This practice generally provides a non-pharmacological modality for achieving biopsychosocial health for those suffering from anxiety, stress, depression, symptoms, chronic pain, immunity, infection and reduced quality of life [ 91 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 ].…”