Author: Agish T
Affiliation: Kidney Center, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
Conference/Journal: Artif Organs
Date published: 1998
Other:
Volume ID: 22 , Issue ID: 8 , Pages: 707-710 , Word Count: 333
The modern treatment strategy for arteriosclerotic obstruction (ASO), which symptomatically appears primarily in the lower extremities, consists of drug and intervention therapy. Reported herein are the effects of external qigong, which has been a traditional therapeutic technique in the oriental countries for a long time and is known to bring warmness in the body, evaluated by modern medical technology.
Thirty-seven patients who had been diagnosed as having arteriosclerotic obstruction (ASO) with clinical symptoms in their lower extremities were entered into the study. According to Fontaine’s severity classification, 20 belonged to grade II and 17 to grade III. They were 20 males and 17 females with an average age of 68.1 ± 8.9 years ranging from 50 to S5 years.
Results
Subjective symptoms: Most patients mentioned that they felt comfortable warmness as in taking a bath, starting from the face/head and moving gradually to the trunk and the lower extremities in a few minutes and a relief of pain in the lower extremities developing concurrently with an expansion of the warmth. The body warmness reportedly lasted as long as approximately 48 h after the qigong therapy according to the follow-up examination. Mental comfort was also obtained. Effectiveness in the subjective symptoms was obtained in 91 instances of 97 therapies (93.8%).
Physiological examinations
Regional temperature. The body surface temperatures mainly of the lower extremities were instantaneously monitored during the qigong therapy by thermography-. A rise in the body temperature was observed in 86 out of 96 monitorings (89.6%).
Plethysmography.
Plethysmography of the toes was monitored approximately 30 min before and after the qi_gon9 therapy session with photoelectric volumetric equipment (Type 5001, Fukuda Medical Electronics, Inc., Ltd., Japan) and compared, especially in regard to the pulse amplitude and configuration of the arterial notch. Effectiveness in terms of Plethysmography was obtained in 59 instances of 78 monitorings (75.6%).
Regional blood flow.
The blood flow velocities of the dorsalis pedis artery and the tibialis posterior artery measured with ultrasonic diagnosis equipment approximately 30 min before qigong therapy were compared to those after. Effectiveness in terms of the blood flow rate was obtained in 40 instances of 45 measurements (88.9%).