Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Science on Qi
As Daoism makes inroads into modern technological (and especially
Western) societies, its practices are increasingly integrated into contem‑
porary lifestyles. This also means that traditional Daoist body techniques
in modern guises, such as qigong and taiji quan, are spreading more
widely and are coming under closer scrutiny in the medical and scien‑
tific community. Although they are not strictly speaking “Daoist” in the
traditional sense, the evaluation of these practices from a scientific per‑
spective plays a growing role in the presence and appreciation of the
religion in the modern world. For this reason, we include a short column
that presents recent publications on scientific trials involving qi exercises.
224 / Journal of Daoist Studies 1 (2008)
Cheung, B. M. Y., Lo, J. L. F., Fong, D. Y.T., Chan, M. Y., Wong, S. H. T.,
Wong, V. C. W., Lam, K. S., Lau, C. P., & Karlberg, J. P. E. (2005). Ran‑
domised controlled trial of qigong in the treatment of mild hypertension.
Journal of Human Hypertension 19.9:697‑704. —— Patients participating in
a 16‑week qigong training program showed reduction in blood pressure
and heart rate and other indicators of physical and mental health. There
were no differences when compared to a simple exercise group.
Lee, M. S., Lee, M. S., & Kim, H. J. (2003). Qigong related blood pressure
and catecholamine levels of patients with essential hypertension. Interna‑
tional Journal of Neuroscience, 113.12:1691‑1701. —— Hypertensive pa‑
tients in a 10‑week qigong training program showed reduced blood
pressure, norepinephrine, epinephrine, cortisol and stress level com‑
pared to patients in a wait‑listed control group.
Lee, M. S., Huh, H. J., Jeong, S. M., Jang, H. S., Ryu, H., Park, J. H.,
Chung, H. T., & Woo, W. H. (2003). Effects of qigong on immune cells.
The American Journal of Chinese Medicine 31.2:327‑335. ——Patients trained
to gather and move qi showed increases in white blood cells, lympho‑
cytes, and monocytes and decreases in NK cells compared to patients in
a sham procedure control group. Patients in a second group that re‑
ceived external qi healing from a qigong master showed increases in
monocytes and lymphocytes compared to patients in a sham procedure
control group.
Lee, M.S., Lee, M. S., & Kim, H. J. (2004). Effects of qigong on blood pres‑
sure, high‑density lipoprotein cholesterol and other lipid levels in essen‑
tial hypertension patients. International Journal of Neuroscience 114.7:777‑
786. ——Hypertensive patients in an 8‑week qigong course showed re‑
duction in blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and other indicators
of physical health compared to patients in a wait‑listed control group.
Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation, 12.1:5‑11.——Patients
with coronary artery disease participating in a 12‑week qigong training
group that included group discussion showed increases in physical ac‑
tivity and improvements in balance and coordination compared to pa‑
tients in a control group that received usual care.
Wenneberg, S., Gunnarsson, L. G., & Ahlström, G. (2004). Using a novel
exercise programme for patients with muscular dystrophy. Part II: a
quantitative study. Disability and Rehabilitation 26.10:595‑602. ——
Patients with muscular dystrophy in a 12‑week qigong training program
showed stronger maintenance of general health and physical balance
and fewer declines in general health and physical balance than patients
with muscular dystrophy in a wait‑listed control group. Patients receiv‑
ing qigong training also reported greater decline in use of positive reap‑
praisal as a coping strategy than patients in the control group.
Channer, K. S., Barrow, D., Barrow, R., Osborne, M., & Ives, G. (1996).
Changes in haemodynamic parameters following tai chi chuan and aero‑
bic exercise in patients recovering from acute myocardial infarction.
Postgraduate Medical Journal, 72.848:349‑351. —— Patients following acute
myocardial infarction in an 8‑week taiji quan training program showed
reduction in blood pressure compared to patients in an aerobic exercise
group or non‑exercise support group.
Irwin, M. R., Pike, J. L., Cole, J. C., & Oxman, M. N. (2003). Effects of a
behavioral intervention, tai chi chih, on vericella‑zoster virus specific
immunity and health functioning in older adults. Psychosomatic Medicine
65.5:824‑830. ——Patients in a 15‑week taiji zhi training program showed
a 50% increase in vericella zoster virus (shingles) cell immunity and im‑
proved physical functioning compared to patients in a wait‑listed control
group. Older patients with impaired status at the beginning of the study
showed the greatest improvement in physical functioning.
226 / Journal of Daoist Studies 1 (2008)
Irwin, M. R., Olmstead, R., & Oxman, M. N. (2007). Augmenting immune
responses to vericella zoster virus in older adults: A randomized, con‑
trolled study of tai chi. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 55.4:511‑
517. ——Healthy patients participating in a 25‑week tai chi chih training
program showed immunity and health functioning comparable in mag‑
nitude to patients receiving vericella zoster (shingles) vaccination; the
two treatments were additive in that tai chi chih combined with vaccine
produced substantially higher levels of immunity than vaccine alone.
The tai chi chih group also showed significant improvements in self‑
reported physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality, and mental health.
Thornton, E. W., Sykes, K. S., Tang, W. K. (2004). Health benefits of tai
chi exercise: Improved balance and blood pressure in middle‑aged
women. Health Promotion International 19.1:33‑38. —— Sedentary but
healthy patients participating in a 12‑week taiji quan training program
showed increased dynamic balance and decreased blood pressure com‑
pared to patients in a no‑treatment control group.
Tsai, J. C., Wang, W. H., Chan, P., Lin, L. J., Wang, C. H., Tomlinson, B.,
Hsieh, M. H., Yang, H. Y., & Liu, J. C. (2003). The beneficial effects of tai
chi chuan on blood pressure and lipid profile and anxiety status in a
randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary
Medicine 9.5:747‑754. —— Healthy patients with high‑normal hyperten‑
sion participating in a 12‑week taiji quan training program showed re‑
duction in blood pressure, cholesterol, and state and trait anxiety com‑
pared to sedentary patients in a no treatment control group.
Yeh, G. Y., Wood, M. J., Lorell, B.H., Stevenson, L. W., Eisenberg, D. M.,
Wayne, P. M., Goldberger, A. L., Davis, R. B., & Phillips, R. S. (2004). Ef‑
fects of tai chi mind‑body movement therapy on functional status and
exercise capacity in patients with chronic heart failure: A randomized
control trial. American Journal of Medicine, 117.8:541‑548. —— Patients
with heart failure participating in a 12‑week taiji quan training program
combined with usual care showed improved quality of life, exercise ca‑
pacity, and decreased serum B‑type natriuretic peptide levels compared
with patients in the control group that received only usual care.
—Donald D. Davis