Immune Changes during Qigong Therapy

Qigong therapy is a popular health treatment that is carried out in many countries, including, Japan. However, its effectiveness of the remedy has not been determined yet. Four qigong master therapists who are capable of conducting high-level techniques participated in this experiment. The changes occurring in the levels of natural killer(NK) cell activity, interleukin-2(IL-2), and the ratio of CD4/CD8 in venous blood were measured before and after a 40-minute qigong therapy session to study the relationship between qigong masters and their patients, and to check the varying abilities of each qigong master. In the case of qigong master A who used his own internal qi, the NK cell activity level decreased immediately after the qigong therapy, but there was an increase in the level of his patient. Qigong masters B,C and D used universal qi and their NK cell activity level increased whereas each patient's cell activity level decreased. The IL-2 level of the patients of qigong master D decreased. The ratio of CD4/CD8 of all subjects did not change. There were indications that qigong therapy conducted on patients had some effects on their immune capacity.