The cardiac and pulmonary functions diminished gradually with age. The respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, corpulmonale, etc. seriously impair the health of the people. The incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and occupational pulmonary diseases is increasing due to cigarette smoking and air pollution. The respiratory rehabilitation is one of the tasks of the rehabilitation professionals.
Qigong and Taijiquan are the important parts of traditional Chinese medicine.
14 outpatients were divided into qigong and Taijiquan groups at their own will. There were 13 men and 1 woman, from 58 to 72 by age (mean 64.29±1.97 years). All of the patients suffered from the cardiac or pulmonary disease. 11 of them smoked for more than 20 years .
A thorough medical history, physical examination and laboratory tests such as ECG, UCG, blood-lipid and lung function tests were worked out in order to establish definite diagnosis and to rule out contraindications. Then, they were taught qigong and Taijiquan, 3 times a week. After 3.5 months patients can do the exercise by themselves.
18 months later, the lung function tests were repeated with the same pulmometer (Chestac-65 made in Japan).
After 18 months of exercise, the lung function tests were markedly improved.
The vital capacity (VC) of 14 patients increased by 3.31% on an average (P<0.05). The total lung capacity (TLC) of 14 patients increased by 7.34% (P<0.05). TLC of 6 patients were abnormal before the exercise and 4 of them became normal after the exercise. 4 of the 14 cases increased by more than 15%. The forced vital capacity (FVC) of all patients improved by an increase of 16.11% on an average (P<0.001).
These results show that both qigong and Taijiquan are beneficial to respiratory rehabilitation.

Role of qigong and taiji in respiratory rehabilitation