Ba Duan Jin qigong is a viable alternative for exercise rehabilitation in patients with heart failure.
2023 analysis by Wenzhou Medical University found that Ba Duan Jin exercise significantly improved the patients’ physical, emotional, and general quality of life,
Heart failure is a complex problem estimated to affect more than 37.7 million individuals globally. As an emerging worldwide threat, heart failure has been associated with several public health problems, such as high morbidity, mortality, and rehospitalisation rates, which produce health and economic burdens on families and society. Furthermore, heart failure significantly restricts exercise capacity and decreases health-related quality of life, especially in areas of physical functioning and vitality. The lack of pharmaceutical therapies to halt the progressive worsening of quality of life has contributed to a growing interest in new approaches to improve quality of life and prognosis in patients with heart failure.
Exercise training is an efficient non-pharmacological intervention for patients with heart failure. However, most conventional exercise rehabilitations can be time-consuming, costly, and complicated, which remains a challenge for patients with heart failure, especially those in low-income countries. Thus, an easy-to-learn and cost-effective exercise program should be utilised as an adjunct in patients with heart failure.
Ba Duan Jin is one of the most common forms of traditional Chinese exercise therapy and is mainly composed of five elements: visualisation, meditation, relaxation, deep breathing, and qi circulation. It consists of eight sections of simple, slow, and relaxing movements and is integrated with the regulation of mind, body, and breath. Ba Duan Jin exercise can effectively alleviate disease-specific symptoms in patients with fatigue syndromes, cognitive disorders, insomnia, orthopaedic diseases, and cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary diseases. Ba Duan Jin exercise is effective and safe in improving left heart function, and reducing resting oxygen consumption in elderly patients. In addition, it can also improve vascular elasticity and regulate blood glucose, lipid, and pressure. Other benefits include improved exercise tolerance, increased quality of life, and reduced hospital admission.
Compared to other taichi and qigong, Ba Duan Jin is one of the simplest and least physically demanding exercises. These features make Ba Duan Jin especially suitable for patients with heart failure to perform at home.
Ba Duan Jin showed a therapeutic advantage on quality of life and exercise capacity, possibly because it concurrently regulates the body, mind, and breath. As a result of fatigue, palpitation, and breathing difficulties, patients with heart failure may feel tired most of the time and find exercise exhausting; they are prone to develop negative moods, such as depression and anxiety. Their quality of life and exercise capacity generally decrease over time as their mental status and cardiac function further worsen. Ba Duan Jin exercise can effectively elevate antioxidant enzymes, stimulate metabolism and blood circulation, reduce oxidative stress, and improve the negative mood caused by chronic cardiovascular diseases, leading to the improvement of quality of life in patients with heart failure.
Additionally, studies have shown that Ba Duan Jin exerts antidepressant and antianxiety effects. A possible explanation for the improvements in exercise capacity is that Ba Duan Jin helps patients mobilise their movable joints and muscles, improve balance, and enhance muscular strength.
Ba Duan Jin exercise is a safe, feasible, and acceptable intervention that can improve the quality of life and exercise capacity in patients with heart failure. If you have had a heart attack or other heart problem, Ba Duan Jin may be an excellent way to recover. Just make sure your doctor has given you the OK to begin this new exercise first.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1744388122001438?via%3Dihub
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