Effects of qigong on cardiorespiratory changes: a preliminary study.
Qigong, a special form of breathing exercise, was investigated to examine its effect on cardiorespiratory changes. Ten volunteers (five males and five females) participated in a 20-minute group instructional session for 10 consecutive days before testing of its treatment effects. The testing protocol followed a C1-T-C2 design, where C1, T, and C2 represented the first, treatment, and second control period, respectively. Each period consisted of a 5-minute interval, and thus each testing session consisted of 15 minutes. The results indicated there were no statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) in heart rate or tidal volume for the three 5-minute periods. There was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in respiratory exchange ratio between T and C2. A significant increase in ventilatory efficiency for carbon dioxide production was found between C1 and T. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) were found in the volume of oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide produced, frequency of breath, expired ventilation, and ventilatory efficiency for oxygen produced between the T and the two control periods. This preliminary study of Qigong demonstrates that the subjects were able to learn the technique in a short period of time. The data also suggest that, with an improvement of nearly 20% in ventilatory efficiency for oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide production, this technique may have useful therapeutic value.
Lim
Y A
YA
Life College, Sports Health Science, Marietta, GA 30060.
Boone
T
T
Flarity
J R
JR
Thompson
W R
WR
D000328:Adult; D001945:Breathing Exercises; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange; D012119:Respiration; D013990:Tidal Volume / Q000502:physiology*
D002245:Carbon Dioxide