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

António Moreira, Luís Carlos Matos and Ana Maria Conceição
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António Moreira: Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior, 2040-413 Rio Maior, Portugal
Luís Carlos Matos: Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Ana Maria Conceição: Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior, 2040-413 Rio Maior, Portugal

J, 2019, vol. 2, issue 3, 1-12

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.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; Qigong; traditional Chinese medicine; elderly; exercise; quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I10 I12 I13 I14 I18 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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