Effects of the External Qigong on Symptoms of Arteriosclerotic Obstruction in the Lower Extremities Evaluated by Modern Medical Technology
Correspondence to: Dr. Tetsuzo Agishi Kidney Center, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan.Abstract
The modern treatment strategy for arteriosclerotic obstruction (ASO), which symptomatically appears primarily in the lower extremities, consists of drug and interventional therapy. Reported herein are the effects of external qigong, which has been a traditional therapeutic technique in the oriental countries for a long time and is known to bring warmness in the body, evaluated by modern medical technology.
Thirty-seven patients who had been diagnosed as having arteriosclerotic obstruction (ASO) with clinical symptoms in their lower extremities were entered into the study. According to Fontaine's severity classification, 20 belonged to grade II and 17 to grade III. They were 20 males and 17 females with an average age of 68.1 ± 8.9 years ranging from 50 to 85 years.
Discussion
Application of the qi (qigong) as a therapeutic modality was reportedly present even 4,000 years ago in ancient China. Modern scientific analysis of the qi was initiated 20–30 years ago, primarily in China and Japan. Even though explanations of the qi from the standpoint of modern science have not been satisfactorily accumulated, qi therapy (qigong), which currently is nonreimbursed by health insurance in Japan, attracts the public interest and is very popular as evidenced by the existence of many towns of Japan even while various highly advanced medical technologies reimbursed by the health insurance are simultaneously prevailing.
A typical essential maneuver of external qigong is the holding of the qigong therapist's palms bilaterally over the patient's lateral head surface. It is said that the qi, informatory energy or energetic information, is emitted from a meridian point of the therapist's palms and transferred to the patient via a meridian point of the ear auricles. When the patient is susceptive to the qi, he/she feels a slight vertigo-like sensation in the head, a tickling sensation in the finger tips, and warmth starting from the face to the trunk and the lower extremities, primarily accompanied by sweat. When the patient is extremely susceptive, he/she feels irresistible sleepiness with comfort, slowly swings/ sways the trunk, and breathes slowly and deeply. The energy of the qi monitored by modern scientific techniques is measured either as an ultrared ray, an electromagnetic wave, magnetic power, a photon, a particle, etc. (All published data are written in Japanese.) However, the magnitude of each energy form is subordinate to its physiological effect on the human body as far as contemporary physiological information indicates.
Although neither the qi/qigong itself nor the mechanism of its effects is understandable or explainable within any paradigm of modern medical science, its effects on the human body in fact appear and are amazing. Approximately 90% of the patients treated responded favorably with improvement in the subjective symptoms of ASO, evidenced by improvement in the objective findings of regional body temperature, plethysmograph, and regional blood flow. This is the first report about the effect of external qigong on ASO patients evaluated by modern medical technologies as far as Index Medicus isconcerned.
Artificial OrgansVolume 22 Issue 8 Page 707-710, August 1998
To cite this article: Tetsuzo Agishi (1998)
Effects of the External Qigong on Symptoms of Arteriosclerotic Obstruction in the Lower Extremities Evaluated by Modern Medical Technology
Artificial Organs 22 (8), 707–710.
doi:10.1046/j.1525-1594.1998.06093.x
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