Chow Qigong in an Outpatient Substance Abuse Program

Substance abuse kills more than half a million Americans a year, making it the largest preventable cause of death in the United States. The annual cost to the taxpayer for the 'drug problem' which includes drug-related crime, medical costs and lost productivity is more than 240 billion dollars.

This paper describes the implementation of nontraditional modalities, specifically Qigong theory and techniques into a substance abuse system of care. It includes survey results on the outcome of implementing Chow Qigong techniques into a drug treatment program. The purpose was to see whether Qigong would work as a stress management tool in the reduction of cravings for substances.