Qigong

Qigong (pronounced “chi gong”) is a practice that developed in China as part of traditional Chinese medicine. It combines movement, breathing and attention, with the stated aim of improving and maintaining health. Tai chi, when practised for health rather than as a martial art, is considered one of hundreds of forms of qigong; others include Baduanjin and Yijin Jing (NCCIH).

What does qigong involve?

In most forms (NCCIH):

• Breathing is slow, long and deep.
• Movements are gentle and smooth and aim at relaxation. Dynamic forms move the whole body or the arms and legs.
• Attention is focused, sometimes with visualisation. Meditative forms can be done in any position you can keep for a while and involve almost no movement.

The traditional explanation is about optimising the body’s energy. The trials below don’t test that idea. They test something more practical: whether people’s pain and function change.

Qigong for neck pain: what the evidence says

• One trial against exercise and no treatment. In this trial, 123 adults with chronic neck pain (88% women) were assigned to qigong, exercise therapy or a waiting list, with 18 sessions over six months. After six months, pain in the qigong group had fallen by 14 points more on a 100-point scale than in the waiting list group. The exercise group improved by a similar amount, although the trial could not formally prove the two were equivalent (Rendant et al., 2011).
• A small systematic review. Five studies were found. Most reported that qigong improved neck pain or disability, but it was generally not more effective than exercise therapy. The authors’ conclusion was that qigong might help some people with neck pain (Girard & Girard, 2019).

For context on neck pain at a desk, see neck pain from desk work.

Does qigong help back pain?

The back pain trials point in different directions:

• Office workers, against a waiting list. In Thailand, 72 office workers aged 20 to 40 who sat for more than four hours a day and had chronic low back pain either did a weekly one-hour qigong class at their workstation for six weeks, plus home practice, or went on a waiting list with general advice. The qigong group had less pain and disability afterwards (Phattharasupharerk et al., 2019). A waiting list is a weak comparison, though: it can’t separate qigong from the attention and expectation that come with any class.
• Against exercise therapy. In 127 adults with chronic low back pain, pain after three months was similar with weekly qigong and weekly exercise therapy, but the trial could not show that qigong was as good. About ten people in each group reported side effects such as muscle soreness, dizziness or pain (Blödt et al., 2015).
• Older adults, against nothing. In 176 adults aged 65 and over, three months of qigong or yoga classes did not reduce back pain more than no extra treatment (Teut et al., 2016).

NICE recommends considering a group exercise programme for a flare-up of low back pain and lists “mind–body” approaches among the types it may include. It does not name qigong specifically (NICE). The same questions for other kinds of exercise class are covered in yoga, Is yoga good for back pain? and Does pilates help back pain?, and the desk side of back pain in lower back pain from sitting.

What the evidence does and does not say

Put together, qigong seems to do better than doing nothing in some trials, especially for neck pain. It has not been shown to work better than ordinary exercise. The trials are small and the comparisons often weak, and the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describes the research on qigong for pain as conflicting (NCCIH).

Qigong appears to be safe. In neck pain studies, side effects were similar to those of other exercise and affected fewer than one in ten people, mainly muscle pain, soreness and headache. In the US, instructors don’t need a licence and there is no national standard for certification (NCCIH). If you enjoy it, it is a reasonable way to keep moving. It shouldn’t be a reason to put off seeing a doctor about pain that worries you; the warning signs are in red flags.

Bavelu’s sessions are not qigong: they are stretching and mobility exercises designed and filmed by physiotherapists.