Effects of qigong on late-stage complex regional pain syndrome

Context Despite the growing popularity of qigong in the West,few well-contr olled studies using a sham master to assess the clinical efficacy of qigong have been conducted Objective To study the effect of qigong on treatment-resistant patients wit h late-stage complex regional pain syndrome type I. Design Block-random placebo-controlled clinical trial. Setting Pain Management Center at New Jersey Medical School. Patients 26 adult patients (aged 18 to 65 years) with complex regional pain syndrome type I. Interventions The experimental group received gi emission and qigong instru ction (including home exercise) by a qigong master. The control group recei ved a similar set of instructions by a sham master The experimental protoco l included 6 forty-minute qigong sessions over 3 weeks, with reevaluation a t 6 and 10 weeks. Assessment included comprehensive medical history physica l exam, psychological evaluation, necessary diagnostic testing, Symptom Che ck List 90 and the Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale. Main Outcome Measures Thermography, swelling, discoloration, muscle wasting range of motion, pain intensity rating, medication usage, behavior assessm ent (activity level and domestic disability),frequency of pain awakening mo od assessment and anxiety assessment Results 22 subjects completed the protocol. Among the genuine qigong group, 82% reported less pain by the end of the first training session compared t o 45% of control patients. By the last training session, 91% of qigong pati ents reported analgesia compared to 36% of control patients. Anxiety was re duced in both groups over time, but the reduction was significantly greater in the experimental group than in the control group. Conclusions Using a credible placebo to control for nonspecific treatment e ffects, qigong training was formed to result in transient pain reduction an d long-term anxiety reduction. The positive findings were not related to pr eexperimental differences between groups in hypnotiz-ability Future studies of qigong should control for possible confounding influences and perhaps u se clinical disorders more responsive to psychological intervention.