Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Health Qigong on the treatment and releasing symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Fifty-four moderate PD patients (N = 54) were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Twenty-eight PD patients were placed in the experimental group in which the prescribed medication plus Health Qigong exercise will be used as intervention. The other 26 PD patients as the control group were treated only with regular medication. Ten-week intervention had been conducted for the study, and participants completed the scheduled exercises 5 times per week for 60 minutes each time (10 minutes for warm-up, 40 minutes for the exercise, and 10 minutes for cooldown). Data which included the muscle hardness, one-legged blind balance, physical coordination, and stability was collected before, during, and after the intervention. Comparisons were made between the experimental and control groups through the Repeated Measures ANOVA. The results showed that PD patients demonstrate a significant improvement in muscle hardness, the timed "up and go," balance, and hand-eye coordination (the turn-over-jars test). There were no significant differences between the two groups in gender, age, and course of differences (P < 0.05). The study concluded that Health Qigong exercises could reduce the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and improve the body functions of PD patients in both the mild and moderate stages. It can be added as an effective treatment of rehabilitation therapy for PD.
Description
Copyright © 2016 Xiao Lei Liu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Publisher
Hindawi
Date of publication
Fall 11-7-2016
Language
english
Persistent identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4499
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Liu, Xiao L.; Chen, Shihui; and Wang, Yongtai, "Effects of health qigong exercises on relieving symptoms of Parkinson's disease" (2016). Nursing Faculty Publications and Presentations. Paper 38.
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4499