QI GONG EASES FIBROMYALGIA PAIN

Routine practice of Qi Gong (chi kung – the grandfather of tai chi) seemed to significantly improve pain in patients with fibromyalgia and lessened the impact of the disorder, a randomized trial showed.

After 8 weeks of regular practice of this “meditative movement,” pain as measured on a 10-point scale decreased by 1.55 points, compared with a change of only 0.02 points in controls, according to Jana Sawynok, PhD, and colleagues from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

And on the 100-point Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, which quantitates the effects of multiple disease components including pain, function, sleep, and psychological distress, there was a decrease of 18.45 points compared with a change of 0.93 points in controls, the researchers reported online in Arthritis Research & Therapy.