Ancient Art of Qigong Eases Arthritic Joints

Sep. 7, 2008 -- In November, Ken Cohen was invited to give two lectures on qigong, the ancient Chinese therapeutic movement discipline, at that hallowed hall of Western medicine -- the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Sensing he might face a crowd of skeptics, the qigong master from Colorado surveyed the room and immediately knew what to say and what to leave out.

"If you go in there and talk about life force and opening up the currents of qi and making sure it flows and so on and so forth, they're just going to stop listening and fall asleep," says Cohen.

Instead, Cohen focused on the growing body of medical studies indicating that these exercises -- using deep breathing, visualization and gentle, fluid exercises -- can prevent or help treat an array of ailments ranging from hypertension to arthritis, diabetes to depleted cerebral function.

"If I go in there with hard data, they'll listen," explains Cohen, who speaks in Fair Oaks next weekend. "I'll say, 'Look, you've got 240 hypertensive patients, divided into two groups. Both are given identical Western medication for high blood pressure. But one group practices qigong.'

" 'These groups are followed for 30 years. At the end of 30 years, 47 percent of the control group had died, but only 25 percent of those practicing qigong. For stroke, 40 percent incidence in the control group, 20 percent in the qigong group.' "

That won over most of the white coats in the audience, says Cohen, who has practiced qigong (pronounced "chee-gung") for 35 years and has earned degrees from Queens College and the University of Calfiornia, Berkeley.

He now directs the Qigong Research & Practice Center in Nederland, Colo.

Still, he knows there are skeptics.

"They'll say if they haven't learned it in medical school in 1950, it's not valid," he says. "Those people, as I like to say, are passing away from hardening of the paradigm.

"The data is clear: Qigong is clearly applicable for disease prevention, as an adjunctive therapy for treatment and for general well-being. ... It's hard for physicians to refute it."

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, cites 2,000 studies showing qigong's benefits. But the nonprofit organization cautions that most of the reports were published in Chinese as abstracts and, therefore, close scrutiny of the data cannot be done.

It calls the studies "largely anecdotal case series and not randomized controlled trials. Few studies have been conducted outside China and reported in peer-review journals in English. There have been no large clinical trials."

Outside of China, the first double-blind, peer-reviewed study of qigong's effectiveness on osteoarthritis sufferers was published in April's issue of Clinical Rheumatology. The study's co-author, Dr. Adam Perlman of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, says qigong proved to be helpful as an adjunct to conventional care.

"Clearly, there is still a level of skepticism (in Western medicine), particularly for many of the complementary modalities categorized as energy medicine (such as qigong)," Perlman says. "It's challenging to study. We really couldn't measure the energy and do what one would like in a clinical trial."

Advocates of qigong say that skeptics once had the same reservations about acupuncture and herbal remedies before both Eastern medical practices gained a foothold in the West.

This much is certain: 80 million Chinese practice qigong in parks, at home and in classrooms. An offshoot of qigong, tai chi, a martial art not meant for healing, is even more popular.

Cohen says the good thing about qigong -- which means "energy work" -- is that it can be practiced by everyone from competitive athletes to the bedridden and wheelchair-bound with debilitating illnesses.

At core, it's about deep, meditative breathing, synchronized with repetitive movements based on the natural environment.

Cohen will hold qigong workshops Saturday and next Sunday at Fair Oaks Personal Power Center.

There are 7,000 qigong exercises, Cohen says, but his workshops in Fair Oaks will focus on the basic "Five Animal Frolics" -- postures and exercises based on the movements of the crane, bear, monkey, deer and tiger.

"The crane exercise is very relaxing, excellent for balance," he says. "The bear is more for strengthening. The bear is very good to do in the winter. The monkey is good for loosening the joints. The deer is for grace and elegance, and the tiger for strength."

But deep breathing from the diaphragm is key, he adds.

"We know that chronic pain is exacerbated by hyperventilation," he says. "We have a tendency to breathe quickly and thoraxically, to breathe with the chest rather than more efficiently through the diaphragm and abdomen."

In that respect, qigong is similar to yoga. But Cohen says there is less physical stress on the body when practicing qigong.

"And qigong is different because it trains the mind to take control of health," he says.

But even Cohen knows the discipline has limitations.

"If you've got a bacterial infection, you've got no business going to a qigong master," he says. "Go to the doctor, and get the right antibiotic. But for the big killers of our time, like cancer and stroke, Western medicine has not been very successful. Qigong is safe gentle, with virtually no side effects."

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