Effect of Qigong exercise on motor function in stroke patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

ABSTRACTABSTRACTBackground Motor impairment is one of the most common defects after stroke, which could seriously affect the life quality of stroke patients. Exercise intervention gradually becomes a popular alternative rehabilitation therapy because of its safety and applicability.Objectives To systematically assess the effect of Qigong exercise on motor function in stroke patients.Methods Randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effect of Qigong on motor function of stroke patients were obtained from PubMed and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure through May 2022. Mean values and standard deviations of the post-intervention score in both experimental group and control group were collected to calculate the mean difference (MD) and corresponkding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of each study, which were quantificationally summarized using the Review Manager 5.3 software.Results Nineteen randomized controlled trials enrolling 1487 stroke patients were included. Pooled results indicated that Qigong exercise had beneficial effect on balance function (Berg Balance Scale [MD: 7.56, 95% CI: 4.09–11.02]), limb motor function (Fugl-Meyer Assessment [total score: MD: 7.54, 95% CI: 6.38–8.69; upper limb: MD: 3.57, 95% CI: 0.71–6.43; lower limb: MD: 2.44, 95% CI: 0.59–4.29]) and walking function (6-min walking test [MD: 62.21, 95% CI: 11.70–112.73]) of stroke patients. It was also found to be associated with an improvement in trunk function as indicated by the Trunk Impairment Scale.Conclusions Available evidence supported potential benefits of Qigong exercise for improving motor functions of stroke patients. As a safe and widely applicable exercise, Qigong is worthy of further promotion in the rehabilitation of stroke patients.KEYWORDS: Qigongstrokemotor functionmeta-analysissystematic review Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Ethics declarationsAll included studies in this systematic review and meta-analysis had obtained the ethical committee approval. Informed consent was obtained from all patients prior to being included in the study.Supplementary materialSupplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10749357.2023.2240582Additional informationFundingThis research was supported by the Hubei Province Department of Education philosophy and social science research major project [grant number 17ZD035]; Hubei Provincial Education Department scientific research plan guiding project [grant number B2017228]; Research Fund for Young Teachers of Wuhan Sports University [grant number 2016QS11]; Hubei Provincial Colleges and Universities Young and Middle-aged Science and Technology Innovation Team Plan [grant number T201925]; East Lake Scholars Program of Wuhan Sports University; Young and Middle-aged Research Team of Wuhan Sports University in 2021 [grant number 21KT12]. The sponsor did not participate in the design, data collection, analysis, or paper writing of this study.