Author: Putiri AL1, Close JR2,3, Lilly HR4, Guillaume N5,6, Sun GC7,8
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Institute of Qigong and Integrative Medicine (IQ & IM), 10127 Main Place, Suite B, Bothell, WA 98011, USA. amy.putiri@gmail.com.
<sup>2</sup>Institute of Qigong and Integrative Medicine (IQ & IM), 10127 Main Place, Suite B, Bothell, WA 98011, USA. Jackie@SeattleHealingAcupuncture.com.
<sup>3</sup>Seattle Healing Acupuncture, LLC, 1307 N 45th Street, Suite 204, Seattle, WA 98103, USA. Jackie@SeattleHealingAcupuncture.com.
<sup>4</sup>Institute of Qigong and Integrative Medicine (IQ & IM), 10127 Main Place, Suite B, Bothell, WA 98011, USA. haroldryanlilly@gmail.com.
<sup>5</sup>Institute of Qigong and Integrative Medicine (IQ & IM), 10127 Main Place, Suite B, Bothell, WA 98011, USA. nathalieguillaume@me.com.
<sup>6</sup>Healing Happy Hour, 930 Grand Concourse, Ground FL, New York, NY 10451, USA. nathalieguillaume@me.com.
<sup>7</sup>Institute of Qigong and Integrative Medicine (IQ & IM), 10127 Main Place, Suite B, Bothell, WA 98011, USA. gsun@iqim.org.
<sup>8</sup>Bastyr University Research Institute, 14500 Juanita Dr. NE, Kenmore, WA 98028, USA. gsun@iqim.org.
Conference/Journal: Medicines (Basel).
Date published: 2017 Aug 9
Other:
Volume ID: 4 , Issue ID: 3 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3390/medicines4030059. , Word Count: 248
Background: The purpose of this article is to clarify and define medical qigong and to identify an appropriate study design and methodology for a large-scale study looking at the effects of qigong in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), specifically subject enrollment criteria, selection of the control group and study duration. Methods: A comprehensive literature review of English databases was used to locate articles from 1980-May 2017 involving qigong and T2DM. Control groups, subject criteria and the results of major diabetic markers were reviewed and compared within each study. Definitions of qigong and its differentiation from physical exercise were also considered. Results: After a thorough review, it was found that qigong shows positive effects on T2DM; however, there were inconsistencies in control groups, research subjects and diabetic markers analyzed. It was also discovered that there is a large variation in styles and definitions of qigong. Conclusions: Qigong exercise has shown promising results in clinical experience and in randomized, controlled pilot studies for affecting aspects of T2DM including blood glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, weight, BMI and insulin resistance. Due to the inconsistencies in study design and methods and the lack of large-scale studies, further well-designed randomized control trials (RCT) are needed to evaluate the 'vital energy' or qi aspect of internal medical qigong in people who have been diagnosed with T2DM.
KEYWORDS: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM); Yi Ren Qigong; acupuncture and oriental medicine; integrative medicine; medical qigong; type 2 diabetes mellitus; xiao ke
PMID: 28930273 DOI: 10.3390/medicines4030059