Dance of energy and breath: “Qigong” and diabetes

Abstract

As in many chronic diseases, in Type 2 diabetes, various complementary and alternative applications are aimed to reduce side effects and to support treatment. One of these practices is qigong exercises whose name is not heard much yet in our country. Qigong is a kind of exercise based on ancient Chinese medicine and aimed at opening energy channels in the body. The qigong consists of active and passive exercises aimed at protecting and/or healing from diseases by establishing energy balance in the body through meditation, breath control, and bodily exercises. In the review of the foreign literature conducted, fewer scientific studies have been found on therapeutic effect of qigong exercises in situations such as providing metabolic control and reducing anxiety, stress, and depression in diabetic patients. When the educative role of nurses is considered, the adequate knowledge of nurses about chronic diseases and care is important. For this reason, the study was compiled to be informative about the effects of qigong in the treatment of diabetic patients and to assist in further studies.