Preliminary observation of 9 cases of Sjogren's syndrome treated mainly by 'Kong Jing Gong'

Sjogren' s syndrome is one of the autoimmune diseases. Its incidence inclines to increase in recent years. There is no specific treatment for it in Chinese and Western medicine at present. In order to explore the treating effects of qigong for this disease, the 'Kong Jing Gong' Training Course was held from Sept. --Dec. 1992. 9 cases of Sjogren's syndrome were treated and a certain curative effect was obtained.

1. Observing subject: 9 female cases had typical clinical manifestations and diagnosed by parotid contrast and labial glands biopsy. Of them, minimum age was 41 year-old, the maximum age was 67. The shortest course of disease was 2 years and the longest was 17 years. The Chinese herbal preparation SS-I for tonifying Qi and Nourishing Yin had been taken for 4--10 months before the qigong exercise was given. Because the curative effect of Chinese herbs was not satisfactory, Chinese herbs in combination with the qigong therapy were applied during the observation.

2. Treating methods: 'Kong Jing Gong' is mainly given combined with massage on several points. The patients did the exercise 1--2 times each day, 30 minutes for each time, a treating course lasted for 3 months.

3. Standard of curative effect:
Marked effect: Two of the main clinical manifestations (dry mouth, dry eyes, joint pain) significantly relieved or nearly disappearing.
Improvement: Two of the main clinical manifestations relieving or one markedly relieving.
Failure: No relief or aggravation of the main clinical manifestations.

4. Treating results The results showed that 3 cases were markedly effective. 6 cases were improved. Of them 2 cases were cured. The symptoms and signs of parotid swelling, dry nose, dry cough, shedding tongue coating and cracking tongue proper of some patients also abated or disappeared. 4 cases were followed up for 4--5 months, of which 2 cases remained steady. The symptom of dryness of mouth and eyes of the other 2 cases further relieved.

5. Discussion: Sjogren' s syndrome is one of refractory diseases. Although a certain achievements had been obtained in treating Sjogren's syndrome with Chinese medicine in recent years, the curative effect of some cases was not satisfactory. The results in this article showed that treating Sjogren' s syndrome with the qigong therapy had certain specific curative effect, which provided a new way for exploring a new effective method to treat Sjogren' s syndrome. 'Kong Jing Qigong' has the characteristics of simplicity and convenience, safety and absence of side-effect.