Some studies show practising qigong helps to fight against cancer

By Channel NewsAsia's China Correspondent Glenda Chong | Posted: 12 October 2009

SHANGHAI: The stress of modern living had prompted many around the world to learn qigong. Recent joint studies from China and the United States also show that qigong can help cancer patients live longer.

One community club in Shanghai is practising a form of qigong that has helped members recover from life-threatening illnesses over the past 20 years.

Cancer survivor Qiu Jia Ming, 65, who suffered from pancreatic cancer years ago, said: "I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when I was 50 years old and the doctor told me I only had three months to live. But I've survived 14 years now."

Another cancer survivor, Yin Xiao Ling, suffered from nasal malignant granulomatosis 22 years ago.

"I'm 57 and have been practising qigong for 22 years. I was diagnosed with nasal malignant granulomatosis, a very rare cancer, and doctors said I only had six months to a year to live at the most.

"So when I was discharged from hospital, I didn't go home. I went to join the Guolin Qigong Club. Doctors said it was a miracle that I survived beyond a year," said Yin.

Even the head of the cancer rehabilitation club is convinced of the benefits of qigong against cancer. Yuan Zheng Ping was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma 28 years ago and after studying Guolin qigong in Beijing, he started the Shanghai Cancer Rehabilitation Club in 1989 to teach others like him.

"It's not only a physical exercise, it is also a psychological practice of breathing using rhythmic exercises, thereby taking in a lot of oxygen. This is beneficial because it increases immunity and help fight the cancer.

"We did a survey in 1993 with 1,500 cancer patients and discovered that after five years of practising Goulin qigong, there was about 85 per cent recovery rate. In 2003, we did another comprehensive study and found that out of 7,000 cancer sufferers, more than 60 per cent of them survived for more than five years," said Yuan.

With such high success rate, there is now more attention paid to this form of exercise. Initial results from studies conducted by the University of Illinois and Shanghai University of Sports show that practising Cailin qigong can help cancer patients live longer and give them a better quality of life.

Wang Changwei is the researcher behind a new study programme sponsored by the US-based National Cancer Institute. Her first phase of research centred on those who regularly practise qigong and it showed that this group of practitioners have a lower rate of cancer reoccurrence than others.

She said: "From our current study, regardless of quality of life, exercise ability or health conditions, those who practised Guolin qigong are far better off than those who don't exercise qigong.

"We did an 11-month observation and found that oxygen intake of those who practise Guolin qigong was higher and when they are at rest, the oxygen level is the same. This means that they inhale more oxygen during their practice. Their breathing method of inhaling twice and exhaling once helped to improve their oxygen intake."

Even doctors who specialise in Western medicine believe there are benefits to practising qigong. But they said there may be other causes that are helping cancer patients recover from their illnesses.

Gao Yong, a doctor at Shanghai East Hospital, said: "Qigong can help patients forget the pain of the disease. Also, the exercise is a team activity. Practitioners encourage and support each other. There is more confidence when they see others recover. I think this is the real benefit of qigong.

"The study has only just started about two or three years ago. A large scale study is needed and should take about three to five years, or even longer, for a more detailed observation of the benefits."

China sees about 2.2 million cancer cases yearly, with one in five dying from the disease.

Ear Acupuncture Curbs Back Pain in Pregnant Women

October 16, 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A special acupuncture technique can help ease lower back and pelvic pain in pregnant women, new research shows.
In a study, women who had pressure needles held in place with tape at three acupuncture points in their ears for one week, were more likely to experience significant reductions in lower back and pelvic pain than those who had the needles placed at three "sham" points or women in a control group who didn't get real or fake acupuncture.
Pregnant women often suffer from pain in the lower back and pelvis -- and this can set the stage for chronic pain later on, Dr. Shu-Ming Wang of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut and colleagues note in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Ear acupuncture might offer a drug-free way to help ease pain in these women, Wang and colleagues say.
They randomly assigned 159 women in the 25th to 38th week of pregnancy to receive real acupuncture, acupuncture delivered to points that would theoretically not affect pain in the pelvic or lower back area, and a control group.
Every woman was also instructed to use self-care as needed, including resting, taking acetaminophen, and applying warm and cold compresses.
All of the 152 women who completed the two-week study reported some degree of pain reduction and improvement in their ability to function.
A 30 percent or greater reduction in pain was reported by 81 percent of women in the acupuncture group, 59 percent of women in the sham acupuncture group and 47 percent of women in the control group. The difference between the sham and control groups wasn't statistically significant.
Thirty-seven percent of women in the acupuncture group were pain-free after a week of acupuncture, compared to 22 percent in the sham group and 9 percent of the control group. Improvements in function were significantly greater among women who had real acupuncture compared to those who got the fake version or received no treatment.
But the pain relief didn't persist for some; a week after the end of acupuncture treatment, 68 percent of those who received the real thing still had a 30 percent or greater reduction in pain compared to the beginning of treatment, while 32 percent in the sham acupuncture group and 18 percent of the control group sustained this level of pain reduction. There was no significant difference among the groups in the percentage remaining free of pain two weeks into the study.
The only side effect was temporary tenderness in the ear area, reported by one woman in the acupuncture group and three in the sham acupuncture group.
The treatment is inexpensive, the researchers note, at a cost of $17 to $20 for a pack of 100 needles, and it takes about three minutes for the needles to be put in place if an experienced person is doing the job.
In future studies, it would be worthwhile, the researchers say, to explore whether extended continuous ear acupuncture yields a more sustained effect and determine the characteristics of acupuncture responders versus non-responders.
They call for larger studies to investigate these issues, and to determine whether the treatment has any effect on pregnancy outcome.
SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, September 2009.

Imaging Sheds Light on How Acupuncture Works

Scans show that treatment regulates brain's pain centers, researchers say

Posted August 27, 2009

THURSDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Traditional Chinese acupuncture, increasingly popular in the West for a variety of ills, eases pain by regulating key receptors in the brain, according to a new study.

The study showed that acupuncture increases the binding availability of mu-opioid receptors in regions of the brain that process and weaken pain signals -- specifically the cingulate, insula, caudate, thalamus and amygdala. By directly stimulating these chemicals, acupuncture can affect the brain's long-term ability to regulate pain, the study found.

A report on the findings is in the September issue of NeuroImage.
Using positron emission tomography scans of the brain, the researchers examined 20 women with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition. The women took no new medications for their pain during the study period. "The increased binding availability of these receptors was associated with reductions in pain," Richard Harris, a researcher at the University of Michigan's Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center and a research assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in a news release from the university.

What's more, Harris said, the findings could prompt doctors to use morphine and other opioid drugs with greater pain-killing effectiveness after treatment with acupuncture because those drugs bind to the same receptors.
Acupuncture has been used in China for more than 2,000 years. Practitioners insert sharp, thin needles into the body at specific points. Today, people worldwide turn to acupuncture for relief from pain, allergies, respiratory ailments, gastrointestinal disorders and gynecological
problems.

Chinese healers claim that acupuncture and traditional remedies work by altering the flow of the body's energy. Practitioners of Western medicine, which follows a more scientific approach, have been investigating exactly how acupuncture works for a number of years.

Injured troops turn to Air Force acupuncture clinic

Jul 21, 2009 | Stephanie Marudas | NPR

http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/07/21/injured-troops-turn-air-force-acupuncture-clinic/

U.S. military doctors have traditionally relied on painkillers and other Western medicine to treat injured soldiers. But one branch of the armed forces is leading the way in using acupuncture to help soldiers manage chronic pain.

http://www.npr.org