Qigong Benefits: What the Research Shows

Why is the evidence limited?

A review pools many individual trials, so it can only be as good as those trials. Read the table below with these limits in mind.

Little research on qigong alone. A US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) map of 26 reviews from 2014 to 2024 found 3 on qigong only, 14 on tai chi only, 7 that reported the two together and 2 that reported them separately.[2]
Often low certainty. Two reviews in that map reached high certainty and sixteen reached moderate certainty on at least one result, and much of the literature stayed low or very low.[3] The two high-certainty reviews covered tai chi, and tai chi and qigong together.[2]
Weak comparisons. For stress, qigong beat no treatment, and showed no clear difference from active comparison treatments.[4]
Uneven quality. In older adults, lower-quality studies showed larger effects than higher-quality ones.[5]
One region. In the main back pain review, 13 of 16 trials came from China, so results may not transfer elsewhere.[6]
Prevention is an open question. A Cochrane review of qigong for preventing cardiovascular disease found 11 trials with 1,369 people, and called the evidence very limited.[7]

NCCIH, the US government's research center for complementary health, describes the pain evidence as conflicting.[8]

What do reviews report, area by area?

Certainty means how confident researchers are that a result is right. The strength column gives the rating from the review authors, some as listed in the VA map: high, moderate, low or very low. "Not graded" means no formal rating was given.

Area	What reviews report	Evidence strength	Source
Back pain	16 trials, 1,175 people. Pain (15 trials) 1.34 points lower than controls, under the 1.5 to 2 that counts as noticeable.[6] Disability (10 trials) 5.88 points lower.[6] The paper gives the threshold for that as 5 in one place and 10 in another.[6]	"Minimal" per the authors; trials vary widely	Yu 2025
Neck pain	Chronic neck pain, 2 trials.[2] Qigong minimally improved function in the short term, and overall perceived effect did not improve.[9]	Moderate	Gross 2015
Stress and anxiety	9 trials, 799 people: perceived stress lower than no treatment (2 trials), no clear difference from active treatments (3 trials).[4] 4 trials in healthy adults: anxiety lower than wait-list groups.[10]	Trial quality mostly low, no formal rating; older review not graded	Oh 2024, Wang 2014
Depression	Major depression, 218 studies overall. Tai chi or qigong (343 people) showed a moderate reduction against active controls, smaller than estimates for walking or yoga.[11]	Very low	Noetel 2024
Sleep	14 trials, 1,027 older adults: sleep questionnaire score 2.47 points better than controls, clear for the Eight Brocades (Baduanjin), no clear difference for the Five Animals (Wuqinxi).[12]	Low; trials vary widely	Xiong 2025
Weight	Tai chi and qigong, 24 trials, 1,621 people: 41.7% of trials showed significant body composition changes.[13] Eight Brocades, 8 trials, 365 people: BMI 1.36 points lower.[14]	Low for Eight Brocades; older review not graded	Larkey 2018, Gao 2024
Blood pressure	Qigong alone, 7 trials, 370 people with high or borderline high blood pressure: systolic 10.66 and diastolic 6.76 mmHg lower than controls.[15] The authors concede the data are too few for a firm conclusion.[15] The high-certainty result in the VA map comes from a tai chi review.[2]	Qigong low or very low; tai chi high	Ching 2021, VA 2025
Balance	Older adults: better balance (5 trials, 329 people), 18 meters more in a 6-minute walk (4 trials, 306 people), no difference in daily activities (4 trials, 140 people).[1] An earlier review found balance effects short of significance.[5]	Not graded; uneven quality	Liang 2026, Chang 2019
Falls	Data cover tai chi: 19% fewer falls and 20% fewer people falling.[16] Research on qigong alone is limited.[17]	Tai chi: low for rate of falls, high for people falling	Cochrane 2019
Bone density	Tai chi and qigong combined, postmenopausal women: higher bone density, with many trials from China in Asian women.[2]	High, may not apply to all groups	VA 2025
Cancer	9 reviews of qigong and tai chi: possibly better quality of life, fatigue and sleep quality.[18] No clear difference from sham practice for quality of life and fatigue.[18] No serious adverse events reported, and 5 reviews gave no safety data.[18]	Not graded; trials vary widely	Xu 2025
Fibromyalgia	Qigong and tai chi: moderately greater pain improvement than waitlist or comparison groups in the short term.[2]	Low or very low	VA 2025
Parkinson's	14 trials, 833 people, tai chi and qigong forms combined: better movement, walking and balance scores.[19]	Medium study quality, not graded	Yuan 2025

One detail for anyone checking the Eight Brocades paper: its abstract swaps the BMI and waist figures, and the numbers above come from its results table.[14] Germany's TK health insurer tells readers not to expect fat loss from qigong, because the load is too low.[20]

What do these results add up to?

Qigong tends to look like other exercise in these trials. A 2026 review of older adults found most of its effects comparable to conventional exercise, with a possible edge for quality of life.[1] Only 7 of its 22 trials had an exercise comparison group.[1] For major depression, walking, jogging and yoga had larger estimates.[11] The fair reading is that qigong may be one reasonable way to stay active, with results that still need better trials.

Tai chi and qigong are part of the standard medical benefits package for US Veterans.[2] That is a coverage decision, and it does not settle how strong the evidence is.

How much practice did the studies use?

In subgroup analyses of the 2026 review, results for depressive symptoms and quality of life looked best with at least 3 sessions a week, for at least 12 weeks, at under 60 minutes per session.[1] NCCIH notes that fibromyalgia trials reporting benefits used 30 to 40 minutes a day for 6 to 8 weeks.[8]

Does qigong replace medical treatment?

No. Qigong does not replace medical treatment, and new or severe symptoms belong with a doctor. NCCIH advises against using it to delay seeing a provider.[8] Do not change a medicine on your own because of anything on this page.

Before you start, check who should be careful. If you are weighing up the two practices, the qigong vs tai chi comparison explains why tai chi has the larger evidence base.

Qigong benefits: what the research shows

Why is the evidence limited?

What do reviews report, area by area?

What do these results add up to?

How much practice did the studies use?

Does qigong replace medical treatment?

Sources