Scientific Evidence and Research

The holistic benefits of gung fu and qigong have been shown in a plethora of research and clinical studies, I have amalgamated some of these studies and have highlighted relevant sections from these articles below:

Wing Chun and Fall Prevention

Fong, Shirley SM, et al. "Elder Chinese martial art practitioners have higher radial bone strength, hand-grip strength, and better standing balance control." ISRN Rehabilitation (2013).

Ving Tsun is an alternate spelling of Wing chun

“This is the first study to investigate bone strength in older VT practitioners. Our results show that the bone strength of the distal radius (dominant side) was significantly higher in the VT practitioners than among the control participants. This finding was anticipated because VT training, which includes wooden dummy training (Figure 1), sticking- hand drills (Figure 2), and sandbag workouts, involves many upper limb striking movements that load the bones in the forearms with repeated high peak forces and impacts. According to Wolff’s law of bone remodeling, the internal structure of bone is adapted to mechanical demands such that the trabecular patterns (i.e., orientation of trabeculae) coincide with stress trajectories. That is, if loading on a bone increases, the bone will remodel to become stronger to resist that particular type of load. Previous studies have reported that athletes who engage in high-impact sports such as karate, display higher bone mineral density in specific regions than sedentary controls. We postulated that long term regular high-impact VT training might improve radial bone strength, therefore minimizing the risk of distal radius fractures in elderly males” (p. 4)

“Another encouraging finding of this study is that VT practitioners demonstrated higher hand-grip strength, especially on the dominant side, than the control participants. This may be attributed to the repeated practice of punching (e.g., vertical fist or “one-inch punch”) and grasping (e.g., grappling-hand) techniques during VT training. Extrinsic and intrinsic hand muscles might have been strengthened through these kinds of gripping exercises” (p. 4)

“Our present findings shed light on the use of VT exercise to prevent fall and fall-related fractures of the distal radius in male elders. However, it is not definitive whether participating in VT lessons would increase one’s exposure to risk of falling and fracture. The advanced VT practitioners in our study started VT training at a relatively young age (average 35.2 years old). Therefore, it is advisable to start VT training early, preferably before the deterioration of balance ability and before the onset of osteopenia. For people who are receiving VT training, our findings hint that they could exercise both upper limbs in a more symmetrical manner so that their bilateral radii, forearm, and hand muscles might be strengthened… Male elder VT practitioners had higher radial bone strength, hand-grip strength, and better standing balance control than nonpractitioners. Our findings may inspire the development of VT exercise as an evidence-based medium for preventing fall and fall-related fractures in male seniors” (p. 5)

Fong, Shirley SM, et al. "Musculoskeletal strength, balance performance, and self-efficacy in elderly Ving Tsun Chinese martial art practitioners: implications for fall prevention." Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2014).

“Ving Tsun (VT) is a traditional Chinese martial art that has the potential to be developed into a new form of health-maintenance exercise to prevent bone loss and the deterioration of balance ability in the elderly. VT involves progressive training with a lot of relatively high-impact osteogenic activities (e.g., wooden dummy training) and functional balance tasks (e.g., sticking-hand exercises)” (p. 1)

“Elderly VT martial arts practitioners had higher radial bone strength, greater lower limb muscular strength, better functional balance performance, and greater balance confidence than the nonpractitioners. These encouraging findings may inspire the development of VT fall-prevention exercises for the community-dwelling healthy elderly” (p. 5)

Bone Strength

“VT-trained older adults had significantly higher bone strength than the control group seniors, after adjusting for sex and body height. This finding is anticipated and actually in agreement with one of our previous studies showing that radial bone strength was higher in long-term VT practitioners (males exclusively in their fifties) than the age- and sex-matched controls. VT training includes many striking movements using the forearms, for example, sandbag workouts, sticking-hand exercises, and wooden dummy training, and these movements repetitively load the forearm bones (including the radius) with high impact forces, resulting in remodeling and strengthening of these bones to withstand the external loads or stress. This phenomenon is best explained by Wolff’s law, which states that the internal structure of a bone is adapted to mechanical demands such that the trabecular orientation coincides with the stress trajectories.

We are specifically concerned with the bone strength of the distal radius because Colles’ fractures or wrist fractures are the most common upper extremity fracture resulting from falls on the outstretched hand in older adults. If VT training can improve radial bone strength, it could serve as Colles’ fracture-prevention exercise and could be incorporated into the traditional fall-prevention programs. Certainly, further randomized controlled trials should be carried out to prove its effectiveness in strengthening the forearm bones” (p. 3)

Lower Limb Muscular Strength

“This is the first study to report that VT practitioners had greater lower limb muscular strength, as reflected by their shorter completion time in the FTSTS [five times sit-to-stand] test, than the nonpractitioners… Although VT is relatively softer (less focused on impact) than karate and its training moves away from forceful kicking techniques, practitioners often stand in semisquatting postures (e.g., goat- gripping stance, forward attacking footwork, and pivoting footwork) during practice. This may improve both the amplitude and the timing of leg muscle activation and may increase muscular strength” (p. 3)

Functional Balance Performance

“Results revealed that the VT group participants scored 18.9% higher in the BBS [Berg balance scale] than the control participants. That means that VT practitioners had better functional balance performance than the no- training controls. This result was expected and agrees with our previous study showing that long-term VT practitioners had less postural sway, especially when standing under sensory-depriving and/or conflicting environments. We postulated that VT practitioners had developed better visual and vestibular senses for postural control through regular practice of the dynamic sticking-hand exercises. Another possible explanation for the better functional balance performance in VT practitioners is that they had greater lower limb muscular strength than the control participants, as found in the present study. Indeed, knee muscular strength was reported to be associated with postural stability among the elderly” (p. 3)

Balance Self-Efficacy

“Similar to tai chi practitioners, VT practitioners had higher ABC scores than the control participants. This may be because VT practitioners (1) had more positive experiences in performing balancing tasks (e.g., sticking-hand exercises), (2) had more chance to observe others successfully completing a balancing task, and (3) received verbal affirmation of their balance ability from others during VT training” (p. 4)

Qigong for Overall Health

Jahnke, Roger, et al. "A comprehensive review of health benefits of qigong and tai chi." American Journal of Health Promotion 24.6 (2010): e1-e25.

“A compelling body of research emerges when Tai Chi studies and the growing body of Qigong studies are combined. The strongest, most consistent evidence is demonstrated for effects on bone health, cardiopulmonary fitness, some aspects of physical function, QOL [quality of life], self-efficacy, and factors related to falls prevention, while findings are mixed for effects of Tai Chi or Qigong on psychological factors and PROs [patient reported outcomes]” (p. e22)

Morgan, Nani, et al. "The effects of mind-body therapies on the immune system: meta-analysis." PloS one 9.7 (2014): e100903.

Qigong as a mind-body therapy

“Indeed, evidence accrued from 34 RCTs [randomized controlled trials] indicates that Tai Chi, Qi Gong, meditation, and Yoga, both short- and long-term, appear to reduce markers of inflammation and influence virus- specific immune responses to vaccinations, despite minimal evidence suggesting effects on resting anti-viral immunity or enumerative measures among 2219 healthy individuals and those with disease conditions… Our exploratory subgroup meta-analyses suggest that the possible contribution of Tai Chi or Qi Gong exercise to the immune outcomes, as its pooled effect size was larger than that of meditation” (p. 9)

“Apparently, powerful links exist between the brain and the immune system, and psychosocial factors can directly influence health through behavior. MBTs [mind-body therapies] may buffer these immune alterations through relaxation, stress reduction, improved mood, and moderate physical activity. Behavioral responses are therefore the key to activating neuroendocrine and autonomic pathways, which in turn modulate the immune system and have implications for susceptibility to a variety of diseases. These changes foreshadow a synergistic effect on down-regulating the sympathetic nervous system, causing diminished pro-inflammatory gene response. Thus, behavioral interventions that alter immune responses provide potent evidence for psychological influences on immune function” (p. 12)

Qigong for Mental Health

Payne, Peter, and Mardi A. Crane-Godreau. "Meditative movement for depression and anxiety." Frontiers in Psychiatry (2013): 71.

Qigong as a meditative movement (MM) and the benefits of MM

METABOLIC EXPENDITURE

“Meditative movement exercises are of mild to moderate intensity, are easily controlled, need no equipment, and little space, can be done indoors in inclement weather, and involve no sudden movements. The level of exertion is not much more than that of a gentle walk, and it may be hard to understand how MM can have such a range of powerful effects. MM involves smooth coordinated movements of all parts of the body, which gently challenge the range of motion of essential joints. In keeping with its philosophy of balance, MM avoids extremes of stretch or exertion and cautions against any feelings of strain or effort.

Studies comparing the effects of MM on physical measures such as balance, bone density, HR, heart rate variability (HRV), BP, aer- obic capacity, and strength to a no-intervention control generally found significant improvement in these indices (increased balance and bone density, reduced HR and BP, increased HRV, aerobic capacity, and strength) with MM, whereas comparisons to conventional exercise interventions often showed MM to have equally positive effects as conventional exercise. (p. 8)”

RHYTHM

“The smooth rhythmic motions of MM are usually experienced as quite pleasurable. Shin Lin suggests that moderate rhythmic movement may increase parasympathetic tone, whereas intense exertion causes more sympathetic activation). Both in the elderly and in infants, regular rhythmic motion has been shown to be calming)…The speed with which one performs MM is around six times a minute (0.1 Hz); this appears to be a frequency at which the breath and heart beat have the greatest tendency to come into coherence; in other words, at this frequency respiratory sinus arrhythimia (RSA) is enhanced…Interestingly, the one outcome for which there is the greatest evidence for the effectiveness of Qigong is reduced BP; hypertension can be significantly associated with increased anxiety and stress.” (p. 8)

INTEROCEPTION

“A central aspect of MM is the attention to interoceptive and proprioceptive sensations. MM practitioners become significantly more sensitive to tactile, interoceptive), and kinesthetic perceptions, and regularly experience a variety of positive and complex inner sensations…Meditation and MM have been shown to enhance interoception, even to the point of altering the neuronal connections between the posterior and anterior insula, the crucial bridge through which interoceptive sensations reach consciousness. We speculate that positive affective changes from MM may be due in part to this process of enhanced interoception.” (p. 8)

IMAGERY

“A useful way of understanding these terms is to think of “Qi” as a dynamic interoceptive/proprioceptive/kinesthetic/tactile sensation of tingling, vibration, warmth, pressure, or flow. Thus “moving the Qi” translates as the intentional use of imagery to modify the practitioner’s inner experience…After a period of practice, such procedures can result in vivid physical sensations; not an abstract mental picture, but an embodied “felt sense” of interoceptive/kinesthetic experience, usually with a clear hedonic component. These subjectively experienced interoceptive shifts are believed to correspond to actual changes in the physiology of the body and nervous system.” (p. 8)

DUAL DEFAULT MODES OF THE BRAIN

“Recent research has identified rumination or mind-wandering (the chronic semi-conscious churning of thoughts) (166) as a significant factor in anxiety and depression…Long-term meditation practice brings about permanent restructuring of these pats of the brain, resulting for instance in increased gray matter in areas of the cortex involved in interoception). We suggest that MM may be effective in the short term at changing the default mode of brain activity away from rumi- nation toward present-oriented awareness, and in the long term at changing the wiring of the brain.. If this is the case, MM could be of immense help in the therapy of depression and anxiety.” (p. 10)

Qigong for Parkinson’s Disease Prevention and Management

Song, R., et al. "The impact of Tai Chi and Qigong mind-body exercises on motor and non-motor function and quality of life in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis." Parkinsonism & Related Disorders (2017): 3-13.

“Tai Chi and Qigong (TCQ) are two increasingly popular mind- body interventions that have the potential to address a range of motor and non-motor symptoms associated with PD [Parkinson’s disease]. TCQ share a common history which includes elements of traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts conditioning, and Asian lifestyle philosophy. Both integrate balance, flexibility, and neuromuscular coordination training with a number of cognitive components, including heightened body awareness, focused mental attention, imagery, multi-tasking, and planned and goal-oriented training, which together may result in benefits to PD above and beyond conventional exercise. In contrast to many styles of yoga or seated mind-body meditative practices, TCQ typically places a greater emphasis on standing and dynamic movements (e.g. pushing and lifting gestures linked to martial applications) that have the potential to impact gait, balance, and other functional activities. For these reasons, in the present work TCQ are grouped together and are considered equivalent interventions, paralleling other recent reviews.” (p. 3-4)

“It has been suggested that the broad, multi-system and multi-symptom benefits of TCQ may result from its multi-component approach, incorporating training in motor control, postural awareness, cognition, breathing, and stress reduction. In normal aging, some progress has been made in identifying mechanisms of TCQ that may improve balance and gait, and reduce falls, including improving lower extremity strength and flexibility, proprioception and postural awareness, neuromuscular coordination and reaction time, executive function, and reducing fear of falling. Preliminary studies also support a neural basis for enhancing cognitive and motor processes. The mechanistic exploration of how TCQ impacts motor and non-motor symptoms in PD is a rich area for further research… RCT [randomized controlled trials] evidence supports a potential benefit of TCQ for improving multiple motor and non-motor outcomes for individuals with PD.” (p. 10-11)