Qigong showed significant improvement on Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND:
Many breast cancer survivors experience fatigue, mood, and sleep disturbances.

PURPOSE:
This study aims to compare a meditative movement practice, Qigong/Tai Chi Easy (QG/TCE) with sham Qigong (SQG), testing effects of meditation/breath aspects of QG/TCE on breast cancer survivors’ persistent fatigue and other symptoms.

METHODS:
This double-blind, randomized controlled trial tested 12 weeks of QG/TCE versus SQG on fatigue, depression, and sleep among 87 postmenopausal, fatigued breast cancer survivors, stages 0-III, age 40-75.

RESULTS:
Fatigue decreased significantly in the QG/TCE group compared to control at post-intervention (p?=?0.005) and 3 months follow-up (p?=?0.024), but not depression and sleep quality. Improvement occurred over time for both interventions in depression and sleep quality (all p?<?0.05). Click to learn how Chinese medicine treats Nasopharynx Cancer.

CONCLUSIONS:
QG/TCE showed significant improvement over time compared to SQG for fatigue, but not depression or sleep. Both QG/TCE and SQG showed improvement for two prevalent symptoms among breast cancer survivors, depression and sleep dysfunction.