Digest of Addiction Theory and Application Author: Anonymous Conference/Journal: The Brown University Digest of Addiction Theory and Application Date published: 2002 Other: Volume ID: 21 , Issue ID: 3 , Pages: S1 , Word Count: 324 New research suggests that qigong therapy may be a helpful alternative for heroin detoxification. Qigong therapy is a Chinese health practice thought to have healing and recovery power. Chinese researchers randomly assigned 86 male heroin addicts (age range 18 to 52; years heroin use, 0.5 to 11) with DSM-III-R classified substance dependence to one of three treatment conditions: 1) qigong treatment (N=34); 2) medication group (N=26); and 3) nontreatment control (N=26). Patients in the qigong therapy group practiced Pan Gu qigong and received qi adjustments from a qigong master daily. Patients in the medication group received lofexidine by a 10-day gradual reduction method. Patients in the nontreatment control received only basic care and medications to treat withdrawal symptoms that were severe. Outcome measures included urine morphine test, electrocardiogram, Hamilton Anxiety scale and a withdrawal-symptom evaluation at baseline and during the 10-day intervention. The researchers determined that reduction of withdrawal symptoms occurred more rapidly in the qigong group compared with the patients in the lofexidine-treated group and the nontreatment control group. From day one of the intervention, patients in the qigong group had significantly lower mean symptom scores that the other two groups (p<0.01). The qigong and medication groups had lower anxiety scores than the nontreatment group (p<0.01); the qigong group had significantly lower anxiety scores than the lofexidine-treated group (p<0.01). On day three, 50 percent of the qigong group had negative urine tests compared to 23 percent in the nontreatment control group and eight percent in the lofexidine-treated group (p<0.01). By day five of the intervention, all subjects in the qigong treatment group had negative urine tests compared to day nine for the lofexidine-treated group and day 11 for the nontreatment controls. 'Results suggest that qigong may be an effective alternative for heroin detoxification without side effects though we cannot completely eliminate the possibility of the placebo effect from the current study,' conclude the authors. [Li M, Chen K, Mo Z: Altern Ther Health Med 2002; 8(1):50-54, 56-59.] -- End --