TY - JOUR
T1 - The Effects of Qigong for Adults with Chronic Pain
T2 - Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
AU - Bai, Zhenggang
AU - Guan, Zhen
AU - Fan, Yuan
AU - Liu, Chuan
AU - Yang, Kehu
AU - Ma, Bin
AU - Wu, Bei
N1 - Funding Information:
Zhen Guan made substantial contributions to acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript and submission. Zhenggang Bai made contributions to the conception and design, and revised it critically for important intellectual content. Yuan Fan helped to draft the manuscript. Chuan Liu searched the electronic database and filled the form of risk of bias. Min Ba and Kehu Yang agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Bei Wu gave the critical feedback. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. This work was supported by funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Young Research Funding-81301177, Grant 81303147). There are no conflicts of interest to declare.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 World Scientific Publishing Company.
PY - 2015/10/1
Y1 - 2015/10/1
N2 - A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of qigong as a treatment for chronic pain. Five electronic databases were searched from their date of establishment until July 2014. The review included 10 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that compared the impacts of qigong on chronic pain with waiting list or placebo or general care. Random effect models and standard mean differences were used to present pain scores. A total of 10 RCTs met inclusion criteria. There was a statistically significant difference on reducing chronic pain between internal qigong and control (SMD: -1.23 95% CI=-2.23, -0.24 p=0.02), external qigong and general care (SMD: -1.53 95% CI=-2.15,-0.91 p<0.05), external qigong and placebo (SMD: -0.51 95% CI=-0.95,-0.06p=0.03), and internal qigong for chronic neck pain at 6 months (SMD: -1.00 95% CI=-1.94,-0.06 p=0.04). The differences between external qigong and control, external qigong and waiting list, internal qigong and waiting list, and external for premenstrual syndromes were not significant. This study showed that internal qigong generated benefits on treating some chronic pain with significant differences. External qigong showed nonsignificant differences in treating chronic pain. Higher quality randomized clinical trials with scientific rigor are needed to establish the effectiveness of qigong in reducing chronic pain.
AB - A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of qigong as a treatment for chronic pain. Five electronic databases were searched from their date of establishment until July 2014. The review included 10 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that compared the impacts of qigong on chronic pain with waiting list or placebo or general care. Random effect models and standard mean differences were used to present pain scores. A total of 10 RCTs met inclusion criteria. There was a statistically significant difference on reducing chronic pain between internal qigong and control (SMD: -1.23 95% CI=-2.23, -0.24 p=0.02), external qigong and general care (SMD: -1.53 95% CI=-2.15,-0.91 p<0.05), external qigong and placebo (SMD: -0.51 95% CI=-0.95,-0.06p=0.03), and internal qigong for chronic neck pain at 6 months (SMD: -1.00 95% CI=-1.94,-0.06 p=0.04). The differences between external qigong and control, external qigong and waiting list, internal qigong and waiting list, and external for premenstrual syndromes were not significant. This study showed that internal qigong generated benefits on treating some chronic pain with significant differences. External qigong showed nonsignificant differences in treating chronic pain. Higher quality randomized clinical trials with scientific rigor are needed to establish the effectiveness of qigong in reducing chronic pain.
KW - Chronic Pain
KW - Meta-Analysis
KW - Qigong
KW - Systematic Review
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U2 - 10.1142/S0192415X15500871
DO - 10.1142/S0192415X15500871
M3 - Article
C2 - 26621441
AN - SCOPUS:84953348276
SN - 0192-415X
VL - 43
SP - 1525
EP - 1539
JO - Comparative Medicine East and West
JF - Comparative Medicine East and West
IS - 8
ER -