Qigong Versus Usual Exercise in the Treatment of Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain as an Add-On to a Standardized Physiotherapy Program
Bibliographic record
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Chronic nonspecific low back pain (CNSLBP) is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Exercise-based interventions, particularly strengthening exercises, are widely used in rehabilitation. However, mind-body approaches such as Qigong, which integrate movement, breath control, and mindfulness, may offer additional psychological benefits. Despite evidence supporting Qigong in pain management, its effectiveness as an adjunct to physiotherapy remains unclear. This study compared the effects of Qigong versus strengthening exercises, integrated into a standardized physiotherapy program, on pain perception, disability, kinesiophobia, and proprioception in CNSLBP patients. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with 42 participants who were assigned to either a Qigong combined with physiotherapy group, or a strengthening exercise combined with physiotherapy group for a duration of four weeks. Pain (Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire, SFMPQ), disability (Greek Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire, RMDQ), kinesiophobia (Greek Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia, TSK), and proprioception (sway-length on a baropodometer) were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Appropriate statistical analyses were conducted for within- and between-group comparisons. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Both groups showed significant within-group improvements in pain perception, disability, kinesiophobia, and proprioception (p<0.05). However, no statistically significant between-group differences were observed. A trend toward greater kinesiophobia reduction in the Qigong group (p=0.069) suggests a potential psychological benefit. DISCUSSION: Qigong and strengthening exercises, when combined with physiotherapy, are equally effective in improving CNSLBP symptoms. Future research should explore longer interventions (>12 weeks) and larger trials to determine whether Qigong offers distinct advantages over conventional exercise programs.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.005 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".