Researchers at Lund University engaged us to perform a training project, in which patients with chronic pain from lumbar spine disorders participated. Recently, a scientific article has been published from the project, with good results.
The project was initiated due to many of our participants having experienced major health improvements from European Zhineng Qigong training, including recoveries from neuropathic pain and chronic diseases with functions being restored.
The training project was conducted in Lund, Sweden, for 3 months and included teaching and training of Zhineng Qigong for 4 weekends, and 2 evenings per week. Daily individual training was also recommended, with the help of our training CD.
In the scientific article, it is described that patients were recruited through the Orthopaedic clinic at Skåne University Hospital and Primary healthcare centres. Thirty patients completed the evaluation, which included a 2-week pain diary and several health questionnaires. These were completed by the patients directly before and after the training project, after which the answers were analyzed at group level. The researchers also evaluated aspects of feasibility.
The patients have had symptoms for an average of 15 years and the majority have had degenerative lumbar spine disorder (disc herniation, spinal stenosis, spondylolysis-olisthesis, or segmental pain). It is mentioned that these conditions often affect neural structures, with symptoms such as pain in the lower back/buttocks/hip/leg/foot, weakness and numbness.
The health results showed statistically significant decreased pain intensity and increased time free from pain. Several patients were able to reduce or completely stop their intake of pain-relieving medication, whereas nobody needed to increase their intake. The researchers also investigated 7 additional lumbar spine-related symptoms other than pain. These also decreased significantly in number and the time free from these symptoms increased. Furthermore, spine-related disability, which is mentioned as common in chronic lower back pain, was also investigated and decreased significantly. Likewise, the health-related quality of life is often decreased, and various aspects of this were measured and showed significant improvements, including improved sleep and increased energy level/vitality.
About half of the patients had undergone lumbar spine surgery 1-6 years before the project, but still had considerable remaining symptoms. Also these patients reported significant improvements, which the researchers highlighted as interesting.
The scientific article can be seen here, where a Pdf version can be freely downloaded.
Reference: Pozarek, G., Strömqvist, B., Ekvall Hansson, E., Ahlström, G. Pain and function in patients with chronic low back pain and leg pain after Zhineng Qigong – a quasi-experimental feasibility study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 24, 480 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-023-06581-w is licensed under CC BY 4.0