Chinese Medicine's Physical Therapy
Post Date:November 24, 2009
“If you want to be healthy and live to be 100 years old,” Dr. Oz states, “then practice Qigong.” Dr. Oz advocated the benefits of Qigong on the Oprah Winfrey Show in November of 2007, and since then, more and more people have become curious about Qigong and its medical and therapeutic benefits.
Qigong (also spelled Chi Kung) is an ancient form of exercises developed thousands of years ago in China, and is the physical therapy component of Traditional Chinese Medicine (or TCM for short), which is comprised of herbs (natural pharmaceuticals), acupuncture, and Qigong.
Physical Therapy in the West is perceived as a modality that facilitates healing—especially after surgeries, or to remedy chronic muscle, tendons, or joint issues. Qigong is both a therapeutic modality as well as a preventative one. As the old Chinese folk saying goes, “A Door used everyday does not rust.” The principle equally applies to Qigong, which targets a wide-range of muscles, tendons, joints, and organs in order to correct as well as stave off disease and disability.
The exercises incorporate gentle stretching, bending and strengthening of the joints, muscles, tendons, and sinews of the body, which target a range of issues from arthritis to back pain and other skeletal and muscular diseases. Moreover, not only is Qigong effective to heal injuries and to address the chronic pain associated with bodily injuries, but the exercises also prevent such issues from occurring in the first place or from recurring once the body has healed.
Since the movements are coordinated with deep, diaphragmatic breathing, the exercises also reduce stress and anxiety and are effective for pain management. The ongoing attention to the breathing alongside the movements reduces blood pressure, reduces anxiety, and generates a sense of psychological balance and well-being.
In order to demonstrate how Qigong efficacy as well as how the exercises can be practiced by anyone, let’s look at an example for what the Chinese call “50 Year Old Shoulder,” which is known in the West as “Frozen Shoulder.” The Chinese call this problem “50 Year Old Shoulder” since after that age, people often do not raise their arms above their shoulders and heads, which leads to an atrophy of the muscles as well as the limited circulation of the rotator cuff.
To being this exercise make a loose fist at the side of the hip, and then circle the arm up the front of the body and over the head and then down the back to the starting position. As the fist rises up the front, take a long, relaxed inhalation, and then exhale softly as the fist circles down. The physical movement stretches and lubricates the shoulder and helps to alleviate pain associated with arthritis or a rotator cuff injury, but coordinated with the breathing, the angle of the arms rotation stretches and massages the lungs, helping to relieve asthma, COPD, and other reduced lung capacity issues.
Since Qigong focuses upon both skeletal-muscular as well as internal organ systems of the body, it is an extremely effective modality of physical therapy and overall well-being. Qigong’s ability to alleviate and address diseases such as high blood pressure, asthma, circulatory issues, and cancer have been documented by the World Health Organization and the AMA. For all of these reasons, Qigong has been helping people be healthy and to live long, productive lives for thousands of years.
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