Qigong for Pain, Blood Pressure and Fatigue: Evidence

At a glance

1. Low back pain

   Mixed

   16 trials (1,175 people); conclusion says better disability scores but no significant pain effect, with high heterogeneity. [1]

2. Fibromyalgia

   Promising but limited

   7 trials (395 people): low-quality evidence for short-term improvement in pain, quality of life and sleep. [2]

3. High blood pressure

   Insufficient evidence

   Small research; authors lack firm evidence. [3]

4. Fatigue in cancer

   Mixed

   Guideline says tai chi or qigong may be recommended during treatment; qigong reviews mixed. [4][5]

5. Fatigue in other conditions

   n/a

   Proper evidence not found (searched PubMed for qigong and fatigue).

Pain

NCCIH says research on qigong and pain is conflicting. [3] For chronic non-specific low back pain, a 2025 review pooled 16 randomized trials of 1,175 people. [1] Its abstract says qigong is effective for disability but has no significant effect on pain, and that high heterogeneity means results need cautious reading. [1] (The same abstract reports a pain difference in its results, so its wording is inconsistent; read the full paper before relying on it.)

For fibromyalgia, a 2013 review found low-quality evidence for short-term gains in pain, quality of life and sleep compared with usual care, and no evidence qigong beat active treatments. [2] No serious adverse events were reported. [2] NCCIH notes this rests on a few small studies. [3] See also yoga for fibromyalgia and chronic pain, yoga for low back pain and tai chi for arthritis and knee pain.

Blood pressure

NCCIH says the research on qigong for high blood pressure is small. [3] It describes a 2021 review of 7 studies that suggested lower systolic and diastolic pressure, while its authors noted a lack of firm evidence. [3] The one study comparing qigong with conventional exercise found no difference. [3]

An older meta-analysis of 9 trials (908 cases) found qigong lowered pressure compared with nonspecific intervention controls, but not more than drug or conventional exercise controls; it identified no obvious side effects and called for stricter studies. [6] A 2020 meta-analysis pooled 9 trials of 516 people for tai chi and qigong together, and said more research is needed. [7] For the qigong form Baduanjin see qigong forms. These findings do not show qigong can replace blood pressure medicines; talk to your clinician about your treatment plan. Yoga evidence: yoga for blood pressure and heart health.

Fatigue

The ASCO and Society for Integrative Oncology guideline (2024) says clinicians should recommend exercise, CBT, mindfulness programs and tai chi or qigong to reduce fatigue during cancer treatment, while certainty of evidence was low to moderate. [4] A meta-analysis of 17 qigong trials in breast cancer (1,236 people, generally low quality) found no significant benefit on fatigue, though quality of life, depression and anxiety improved. [5] NCCIH describes a 2019 review where qigong significantly improved fatigue and sleep quality and says longer, higher-quality studies are needed. [3] Label: mixed. See yoga in cancer care. Ongoing tiredness has many medical causes: when to get help for fatigue.