Can Qigong improve non-motor symptoms in people with Parkinson's disease - A pilot randomized controlled trial?
Sanghee Moon, Caio V M Sarmento, Michael Steinbacher and 5 others
PMID 32379638WHAT IT FOUND
Qigong did not improve sleep quality or other non-motor symptoms more than sham Qigong over 12 weeks in 17 people with Parkinson's disease.
Both groups improved, so the benefit cannot be separated from the shared exercise.
Key findings
01After 12 weeks, Qigong and sham Qigong did not differ significantly on any measured outcome.
02Both groups showed within-group improvement on PDSS-2 sleep scores and NMSQ non-motor symptom scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only 17 participants were analysed, and post hoc power was 10% for PDSS-2 total scores, so the study was underpowered. The dropout rate was 47%, and the most common reason was lost interest during the first 6 weeks. The authors did not formally evaluate or document intervention fidelity. Sham Qigong included the same mild body movements, so improvement cannot be separated from movement. The sleep outcome was mainly subjective, and Actigraph correlations were not strong for all variables.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Qigong improves sleep or non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease. The primary between-group comparison found no significant difference, and both Qigong and sham Qigong improved within groups, so the benefit cannot be separated from the shared exercise.