Qi Gong Continues to be Validated

A new study by the University of Texas finds that qi gong significantly improves quality-of-life of cancer patients over a control group. As a long-time martial arts practitioner, I have encountered the martial aspects of qi gong first-hand, and one of my great pet peeves is people–whether physicians, martial artists, or whoever–who dismiss it simply because they can’t quantify it.

Now, this is a very limited study, so it would be improper to generalize these findings for clinical prescriptions, just as the article said. However, it is a legitimate study of actual qi gong, which is rare in this field. Good science does not begin with a perspective of “I don’t believe in this, so I will ignore it or treat it stupidly.” Good science treats every study seriously, and sees where it leads.