Below, is an excerpt from the "Medical T'ai Chi" section of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi & Qigong" new 2nd edition. We encourage you to take this information and use it to write articles to magazines (popular and health), to write letters to the editor/health editor of local papers, to write to medical and nursing journals, senior magazines, drug rehabilitation publications, personal growth, spirituality, etc. etc. journals.

Thank you for all your work to help provide the world access to the healing
power of T'ai Chi and Qigong.

Bill Douglas, World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day

[Excerpt from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi & Qigong"
(Macmillan/Pearson Education, NY 2002). This is a partial list from the
book, as email size limitations will not allow the entire list to be posted
in one email. ALSO, the book thanks www.qigonginstitute.org for granting use
of many of the below references.]

T'ai Chi and QiGong are Therapeutic for Many Things

Although T'ai Chi and QiGong can play a positive role in many existing
conditions, each condition is different and you must discuss T'ai Chi or
QiGong with your physician before proceeding. Also realize that some of the
research on T'ai Chi and Qigong mentioned below is sourced from research
being done worldwide, with varying qualities of scientific method, and
sometimes involving qigong medical treatment by professional qigong doctors
or therapists using "emitted qi." Therefore, it is hoped that this research
is not an end point, but a starting point, that will encourage a more
expansive and lively health dialogue between doctor and patient, and in the
research community worldwide on the self healing potential of the "qi" or
life energy that exists within all of us. This is why you will find that in
many cases below, I listed not only the research results, but also
researchers explanations of why they thought qigong was so effective.

Authors Note: In a few listings direct quotes were lifted from foreign
studies, and due to the language barrier grammatical errors were made in
translation. In such cases, these errors often remain in the text, for fear
of changing them may alter the researchers intended meaning. Also, on the
"emitted qi" or "emitted qigong" studies mentioned below, I refer you back to
Chapter 10's section on External QiGong, not because they are using that
particular system of External Qigong, but so you have some general idea of
what "emitted qi" means. Therefore, Chapter 10's instruction on a general
health use of External QiGong is not meant to instruct you in how to treat
the below diseases or maladies, the emitted qi in the below studies is often
administered by Qigong doctors or therapists who have had much training in
the field. So in these cases Chapter 10's section on External Qigong is
merely illustrative to help you conceptualize what the researchers are
talking about when they refer to "emitted qi." Also, for therapies below
using "qigong exercises or therapy" there were many types of QiGong exercises
employed in the various studies. As mentioned in earlier chapters there are
about 7,000 forms of qigong listed in the Chinese Medica, and the QiGong
exercises taught in earlier chapters are intended as overall general health
enhancement techniques rather than treatment tools.

Many of the following listings are based on information provided by the
QiGong Institute's Computerized QiGong Database, which contains 1,600
research abstracts. This Computerized QiGong Database may be the most
comprehensive collection of research abstracts on QiGong medical and science
research from around the world. This searchable database is a resource that
should be on the computers of all health professionals, QiGong and T'ai Chi
instructors, health reporters, and others interested in natural health
options. It is available at www.qigonginstitute.org. Other research on T'ai
Chi below is from articles sited at www.taichismart.com's Resource Library.
You can visit the taichismart.com resource library to obtain article
references for some of the Tai Chi research referred to below, and to keep
abreast of new research on T'ai Chi and Qigong as it emerges from research
centers worldwide.

Listed by Malady or Condition:

ADD and ADHD. Research at the University of Miami School of Medicine has
shown that adolescents with ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity
Disorder) displayed less anxiety, daydreaming behaviors, inappropriate
emotions and hyperactivity and improved conduct, after a five week, two day
per week class (10 sessions). The improvements persisted over the two-week
follow up (no Tai Chi) period. T'ai Chi meets many of the criteria for mood
management techniques recommended for ADD (see beginning of this chapter).

Aging, delaying aging. The Shanghai Institute of Hypertension, Shanghai,
China, did a study on qigong as a prevention and treatment of geriatric
diseases and anti-aging process. They looked at several aspects of aging:
Hypertension; Brain Function; and Sex Hormone Abnormality - and evaluated how
qigong practice affected each.

Hypertension: A twenty year study of 204 patients with hypertension showed a
mortality and stroke mortality rate to be about half that of the control
group, only taking hypertension medication, for those practicing Qigong
exercises in addition to medication.
When hypertension was controlled, various accompanying geriatric diseases
(e.g. coronary heart disease and diabetes) and aging manifestation were
relieved. These results indicate that qigong is an effective measure for
preventing and treating geriatric diseases, and anti-aging process.

Brain Function: Using an EEG, 220 subjects were studied, 83 healthy adults,
42 healthy aged, 33 hypertensive patients practicing qigong and 62
hypertensive patients who didn't practice qigong. Results indicated that
qigong played a major role in the improvement of the brain function of the
hypertensive aged patients.

Hormones: Abnormality of sex hormones was an important cause in diseases and
aging process. Results suggested that qigong can regulate the abnormal sex
hormones, though the patterns in males and females are somewhat opposite.
Qigong can nourish the essence of life, reinforce the kidney and delay aging
process.

The above study indicates that qigong is an effective measure in preventing,
treating geriatric diseases and delay the aging process.

AIDS. Studies indicate regular T'ai Chi practice may boost one's T-Cell
count while improving outlook, and providing a soothing gentle exercise. The
relaxed forms effectively oxygenate the body while moving blood and lymph
throughout.

Allergies and asthma. The stress reduction benefits of T'ai Chi and QiGong
help the body maintain elevated DHEA levels. Low DHEA levels have been
directly linked to allergies. High stress levels are linked to the frequency
and intensity of asthmatic reactions as well.

Angina. Biofeedback aspects of T'ai Chi and QiGong can help students learn to
regulate blood flow, by awareness of warmth in hands and feet. Evidence
suggests this skill may alleviate some forms of angina.

Anorexia/bulimia. See the "T'ai Chi for Women" section preceding this section.

Anxiety, chronic. The relaxed abdominal breathing that T'ai Chi and QiGong
promote can be a beneficial adjunct to therapy. (Observation shows that for
trauma based anxiety T'ai Chi's more active moving therapy may be more
comfortable than sitting qigong's progressive relaxation therapy, for some
people with trauma based anxiety, such as Delayed Stress Syndrome.)

Arthritis. T'ai Chi's low impact causes no joint damage (unlike other higher
impact exercises), while its weight- bearing aspect may encourage development
of bone mass and connective tissue.

Back pain. Prevention Magazine reported a study where, after one year of
T'ai Chi classes a group of men and women ages 58 to 70 found increased
strength, and increased flexibility in their back, helping to reduce the odds
of back pain.

Balance disorders. T'ai Chi practitioners fall only half as much as those
practicing other balance training, making T'ai Chi perhaps the most effective
balance conditioner known.

Baldness, premature. QiGong and T'ai Chi promote stress management and blood
circulation. Some QiGong exercises, such as Carry the Moon, specifically
promote circulation in the scalp.

Behcet's Disease. Behcet's Disease is a kind of chronic recurrent disease.
The pathology is mainly changes in vasculitis symptoms. The clinical
manifestation is: oral mucosal ulcer, perineum and reproductive organs ulcer,
soit is also called Beheet's triple syndrome. Neijiang Central Hospital of
Management, Heilongjiang, China claimed to have cured five patients suffering
Behcet's Disease. They believe that this was due to Qigong's ability to
build up immunologic function, increase the blood flow volume by the
concentration of the mind to improve nutriture, and promote the union of the
oral mucosal ulcer with swallowing great amounts of saliva and breathing much
oxygen.

Blood pressure, low blood pressure. At Lixin County Hospital of TCM
(Traditional Chinese Medicine) in Anhui province, China, they have studied
the effects of using qigong health exercises combined with standard medical
drug therapy. Researchers referred to TCM theory to explain that they
believed qigong therapy may be good for low blood pressure. They reported,
"According to TCM theory, medical qigong's function is related to inducing
the production of interferon, improving the microcirculation, clearing free
radicals and adding the hepar blood flow, and improving hepatocellular
metabolism, hepatocellular regeneration, and moreover, it may rectify low
blood pressure and low blood coagulation state, prevent and cure fatty liver."

Brittle bones/ Bone Loss in women. Research from the National Institute of
Mental Health reports that the stress hormones found in depressed women
caused bone loss that gave them the bones of women nearly twice their age.
T'ai Chi and QiGong's ability to relieve both depression and cleanse stress
loads may make it a powerful tool for women trying to maintain healthy bones
as they age.

Bronchitis / emphysema, chronic. Sitting QiGong and/or T'ai Chi may show
positive results over time in appetite, sleep, and energy levels, but also
rather dramatically and healthfully in decreasing breaths per minute.

Burns, healing of. Researchers at the Navy General Hospital, Beijing, China
studied effects of emitted qi on the concentrations of hemoglobin in burnt
rats.

Researchers suggested, "Anemia is the main complication of severe burn. A
large amount of evidence shows that anemia can occur in several hours
postburn. Effectively correcting anemia can markedly improve patient's body
resistance, promote the healing of surface of wound and increase the survival
rate. Moreover, new findings suggested that emitted qi could promote the
amount of RBC and the concentrations of hemoglobin.

After their study, the researchers concluded, "The concentrations of
hemoglobin in the [qigong treated] treating group returned to normal value 7
days earlier than that in the control [with no qigong therapy]. This
evidence indicated that emitted qi not only affects on protective RBC, but
promotes synthesis of hemoglobin." Put simply the qigong treatment expedited
the healing ability of the burnt rats.

Cancer. Several clinical studies reported that a combination therapy of
drugs with personal practice of qigong provided a better outcome than drug
therapy alone.

Carcinoma. The Guangzhou College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou,
China, researched the effects of emitted qi (External QiGong, see Chapter 10)
on carcinoma. They reported, "The emitted qi may promote normal function of
human immune cells while killing the tumor cells suggesting that qigong is a
feasible means to the treatment of carcinoma."

Cardiovascular Benefit. Research has shown that T'ai Chi can provide the
same cardiovascular benefit as moderate impact aerobic exercise. The Harvard
Women's Health Watch reported, "studies support T'ai Chi [use] for
heart-attack and cardiac-bypass patients, to improve cardioresperatory
function and reduce blood pressure."

Chronic pain. Students often find anything between mild pain relief and
complete alleviation of chronic pain by using T'ai Chi and/or QiGong.

Circulation and nervous system disorders. T'ai Chi promotes circulation and
can have a very integrating affect on the mind and body.

Compulsive / obsessive disorders. T'ai Chi and QiGong's mindful awareness of
self and constant reassurance that we can breathe through and relax into any
situation may be a helpful adjunct to therapy for OCD, which gently exposes
patients to their fears. Again, introduce T'ai Chi and QiGong only with your
therapist's approval.

Concentration/Qigong uses in education. Although the researchers of this
study in Xinjiang, China, admit limitations and imperfections in their
research, they find encouraging signs that Qigong exercises could greatly
enhance the educational experience for primary school children and beyond.
The class they had practicing QiGong exercises found physical improvements,
improved eating habits, better deeper sleep, higher energy levels, less eye
strain, and a reduction of problems with what researchers called "Restless
Disease," which may be what we refer to as ADD or ADHD in the West (Attention
Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder).

Coronary disease. Ganshu College of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) in
China claimed to have found strong evidence that Qigong exercises may help
with coronary disease. The average age of the patients was 65 years old.
There were 14 men and 26 women. 5 cases had suffered myocardiac infarction
and 35 cases insufficient blood supply. After qigong exercises, the
obstruction in the Du Meridian was removed in 35 patients, amounting to
87.5%. Others practiced the 3-4 step qigong. Each patient had practiced
qigong for 500 hours. According to ECG and symptoms, 18 cases turned to
normal, 19 cases had marked effectiveness and 3 cases had no change.

Depression and mood disturbance. Regular (daily) T'ai Chi practitioners
usually find less incidence of depression, anxiety, and overall mood
disturbance.

Diabetes. T'ai Chi's stress management and increased circulation qualities
make it ideal for diabetes. In a Beijing University of Chinese Medicine &
Pharmacology study, 24 patients were requested to keep on doing qigong
exercises for 2 hours a day for 3 weeks, and to keep normal living habits and
take medicines as usual.

According to the result, researchers found that blood sugar can be lowered
successfully by doing qigong exercises. Furthermore, 42.9% of the patients
took less medicines but had more staple food.

Digestion, improving. T'ai Chi's gentle massage of internal organs, and
stimulation of blood circulation and Qi promote healthy digestion.

Drug Uptake, Ken Sancier of the Qigong Institute, East West Academy of
Healing Arts, San Francisco, California reviewed voluminous studies done
worldwide and concluded that QiGong & drug therapy is superior to drug
therapy alone, sighting the following 3 studies.

(1) A 20-year study of hypertensive patients, Kuang, Wang, et al reported
that patients who practiced qigong exhibited more stable and lower blood
pressure than the control group. The dosage of hypotensive drugs could even
be decreased in the qigong group, while it had to be increased in the control
group. . . . hypertensive patients in a qigong group needed smaller doses of
a hypotensive drug than the control group. (2) In the case of patients with
advanced cancer, Sun & Zhao reported that a combination of drugs and qigong
resulted in greater improvement of symptoms (e. g. strength, appetite,
diarrhea free, weight gain) than the control group. (3) Omura reported that
drug delivery is enhanced by qigong. For example, in the treatment of
infections, drug uptake was enhanced by applying "qigongized" paper, e. g.
qi emitted to paper, to the afflicted area of the body.

The explanation of the superiority of the combination therapy is based on the
theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM, which includes qigong, is
a holistic practice that promotes free flow of qi and blood throughout the
body. Where tissues are under stress because of injury or disease, qigong
can enhance qi and blood circulation to that area so that nutrients may more
efficiently be delivered to the affected cells and also waste products in the
stressed tissue can be removed more readily. This dynamic situation promotes
self-regulation of the functions of the body, permitting self-healing. If
drugs are needed to promote healing, qigong appears to enhance the delivery
of the drug to cells of the body.

Flexibility Enhancement. Harvard Women's Health Watch reported an Emory
University study showing that T'ai Chi may possibly improve elasticity in
ligaments and tendons, create stronger knee flexors and extensors, and create
better posture.

Gall Stones. The Navy General Hospital, Beijing, China, did a study using
emitted qi (See External Qigong, Chapter 10) to find if a particular emitted
qi therapy could help people pass gall stones. They reported, "Among 30
cases of cholelithes (Cholelithes is a common disease of the biliary duct
system, which may result in gall stone problems.), 6 were males and 24
females. The average age was 54. Accurate diagnosis was done by B ultrasonic
examination. The subjects had had the problem for from 3 months to more than
10 years. One course of treatment lasted for 5-10 days. Treatment was given
once per day and 30 minutes at one time. After one course of treatment, 28
patients began to discharge stones. The positive rate was 93.33%."

Researchers believed this was because, "The emitted qi massages the liver
directly and getting rid of blood stasis so that the circulation of blood in
the liver and bile is promoted, and it may cause gallbladder to contract and
make the biliary duct dilate. As a result, bile washes and pushes the stones
to the biliary duct then to duodenum."

Gastritis, Chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) is a common yet difficult
illness, according to researchers at the Institute for Industry Health, the
National Mechanical Industry Commission, Xi'an, Shanxi Province, China. They
studied using a combination of Daoying (qigong exercise) and Tuina (Chinese
therapeutic massage) applied to 103 cases with Chronic Atrophic Gastritis
(CAG), and during this study no medication was given for CAG. Out of the 103
cases, researchers claimed that after less than 3 months of daily
exercises/therapy, 97.1% found some benefit, while nearly 70% found marked
benefit, seeing a disappearance of abdominal distending pain, anorexia,
belching, diarrhea, disappearance or relief of lesions, atrophic gastritis
turning to superficial gastritis, or severe atrophic gastritis turning to
mild.

Gastrointestinal Malignant Tumors. The Dept of Chinese Medicine, Second
Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangsi, China,
divided patients into two group, i.e., the Qigong group and Control group,
each having 20 patients with gastrointestinal tumors that had been treated by
supplementary Qigong. Both the study/qigong group and the control group were
operated, which was combined with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and Chinese
medicine. The only difference was the study group also practiced various
QiGong exercises each day for 30 minutes 3 times each day.

Researchers reported, "Their symptoms and the changeable objective norm were
observed regularly and we found doing Qigong would surely promote the
recovery of the functions of the stomach and intestines and the patients'
appetite and improve the gastric and absorption functions, making the white
blood cells remain normal and also making their cutaneous electric reaction
become closer to normal adults. Their 3 and 5 year survival rate was
obviously higher than that of the control group.

Through 5-year observation of this treatment, the Qigong group had 80% for a
3-year survival rate, and 45% for a 5-year survival rate. Compared with the
control group which had 65% for a 3-year survival rate and 30% for a 5-year
survival rate. Therefore, these two groups have quite different survival
rates. Showing the supplementing treatment by doing Qigong can obviously
increase the survival rate of the patients."

Geriatric Fitness. Prevention Magazine reported that "T'ai Chi may be the
best exercise for people over the age of 60, . . . providing cardio fitness,
muscle strength, and flexibility all in one simple workout that is easy on
the joints."

Heart disease. At the Institute of Psychology, Academia Sinica, Beijing,
China, 122 subjects who practiced qigong and 55 subjects who practiced Tai
Chi more than two years (average age of 65) were used as experimental groups.
Ninety others with similar age and education level who never practiced
qigong or tai chi were used as a control group. The goal was to see how
states of mind that add to the risk of heart disease would be affected.

The results showed less depression and less anxiety and better quality of
sleeping were observed in the qigong and Taijiquan group. The results also
suggested that qigong was useful to the improvement of neuroticism and
Taijiquan was useful to the improvement of psychoticism of EPQ. Type A
behavior patterns could be changed by practicing qigong, but at least 5
years' practice is necessary for this to change.

Hemorrhoids. Some QiGong breathing involves the sphincter muscles, which may
directly alleviate hemorrhoid symptoms. T'ai Chi's ability to reduce
constipation lessens the aggravation of hemorrhoid symptoms.

High blood pressure. T'ai Chi can significantly lower high blood pressure in
many cases.

Infections. Regular T'ai Chi practice is believed to increase the T-Cell
count. T-Cells are thought to consume, virus, bacteria, and even tumor cells.

Insomnia. Students often remark of improved sleep and reduced insomnia after
a few weeks of regular T'ai Chi and QiGong practice.

Leukemia. The Immunology Research Center, Beijing, China has begun studying
the effects of externally emitted qi (see External Qigong in Chapter 10), to
see how it affects Leukemia cells in mice.

According to researchers, the result of this experiment showed that the
emitted qi could kill or inhibit the L1210 cells of mice leukemia. After a
body received it many times, the emitted qi could significantly reduce the
number of L1210 cells in mice. The experimental study laid a theoretical
basis for the treatment of tumors with qigong. However, although researchers
assert that Qigong therapy will be a new way to cure carcinoma, they caution
that, the mechanism and way that the emitted qi kills or inhibits L1210 cells
of malignant tumors in mice needs to be further investigated.

Liver disease, hepatitis-B, etc. At Lixin County Hospital of TCM
(Traditional Chinese Medicine) in Anhui province, China, they have studied
the effects of using qigong health exercises combined with standard medical
drug therapy. Researchers claimed they found that ten kinds of liver
diseases, especially B Type Hepatitus, could be cured with the combination of
drugs and qigong. When drugs and qigong were used in combination researchers
claimed the curative rate was found to be 24.3% higher, than the rate when
only drug therapy was used. (73.3% vs. 49%). Researchers referred to TCM
theory to explain this. They reported, "According to TCM theory, medical
qigong's function is related to inducing the production of interferon,
improving the microcirculation, clearing free radicals and adding the hepar
blood flow, and improving hepatocellular metabolism, hepatocellular
regeneration, and moreover, it may rectify low blood pressure and low blood
coagulation state, prevent and cure fatty liver."