External Qi Therapy to Treat Symptoms of Agent Orange Sequelae in Korean Combat Veterans of the Vietnam War

The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, Vol. 32, No. 3, 461-466

2004 World Scientific Publishing Company Institute for Advanced Research in Asian Science and Medicine

External Qi Therapy to Treat Symptoms of Agent Orange Sequelae in Korean Combat Veterans of the Vietnam War

Myeong Soo Lee and Won-Hong Woo

Professional Graduate School of Oriental Medicine, Wonkwang University Iksan 570-749, Republic of Korea Hyun-Ja Lim Department of Nursing, Chodang University, Muan, Republic of Korea Sung-Soo Hong Constitutional Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine Clinic, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia Hye-Jung Kim and Sun-Rock Moon Departments of Family Medicine and Radiation Oncology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine Iksan 570-711, Republic of Korea

Abstract: We investigated the efficacy of Qi therapy as a non-pharmacological treatment for various symptoms presented by Korean combat veterans of the Vietnam War with Agent Orange Sequelae. Nine subjects volunteered to receive 30 minutes of Qi therapy, twice per day for 7 days. There was marked improvement in 89% of the patients with impaired physical activity, 86% of those with psychological disorder, 78% of those with heavy drug use, and 67% of those with fatigue, indigestion and high blood glucose levels. This data suggests that Qi therapy combined with conventional treatment has positive effects in reducing and managing the pain, psychosomatic disorders, and substance abuse in patients with Agent Orange Sequelae. We cannot completely discount the possible influence of the placebo effect, and more objective, clinical measures are needed to study the long-term effects of Qi therapy.

Keywords: Qigong; Qi Therapy; Agent Orange Sequelae; Vietnam War Combat Veteran.