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. 2022 Feb 21:13:800727.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.800727. eCollection 2022.

Qigong Training Positively Impacts Both Posture and Mood in Breast Cancer Survivors With Persistent Post-surgical Pain: Support for an Embodied Cognition Paradigm

Ana Paula Quixadá  1 , Jose G V Miranda  1 , Kamila Osypiuk  2 , Paolo Bonato  3 , Gloria Vergara-Diaz  3 , Jennifer A Ligibel  4 , Wolf Mehling  5 , Evan T Thompson  6 , Peter M Wayne  2
Affiliations

Qigong Training Positively Impacts Both Posture and Mood in Breast Cancer Survivors With Persistent Post-surgical Pain: Support for an Embodied Cognition Paradigm

Ana Paula Quixadá et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Theories of embodied cognition hypothesize interdependencies between psychological well-being and physical posture. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of objectively measuring posture, and to explore the relationship between posture and affect and other patient centered outcomes in breast cancer survivors (BCS) with persistent postsurgical pain (PPSP) over a 12-week course of therapeutic Qigong mind-body training. Twenty-one BCS with PPSP attended group Qigong training. Clinical outcomes were pain, fatigue, self-esteem, anxiety, depression, stress and exercise self-efficacy. Posture outcomes were vertical spine and vertical head angles in the sagittal plane, measured with a 3D motion capture system in three conditions: eyes open (EO), eyes open relaxed (EOR) and eyes closed (EC). Assessments were made before and after the Qigong training. The association between categorical variables (angle and mood) was measured by Cramer's V. In the EO condition, most participants who improved in fatigue and anxiety scales also had better vertical head values. For the EOR condition, a moderate correlation was observed between changes in vertical head angle and changes in fatigue scale. In the EC condition, most of the participants who improved in measures of fatigue also improved vertical head angle. Additionally, pain severity decreased while vertical spine angle improved. These preliminary findings support that emotion and other patient centered outcomes should be considered within an embodied framework, and that Qigong may be a promising intervention for addressing biopsychosocially complex interventions such as PPSP in BCSs.

Keywords: Qigong; breast cancer; embodied cognition; mood; posture.

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Conflict of interest statement

PW was the founder and sole owner of the Tree of Life Tai Chi Center. PW’s interests were reviewed and managed by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Partner’s HealthCare in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow chart of number of participants in each angle analysis.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Heat Map of the correlation between mood and posture angles for the EO condition. Dep, Depression; PainSev, Pain Severity; PainInt, Pain Interference.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Heat Map of the correlation between mood and posture angles for the EOR condition. Dep, Depression; PainSev, Pain Severity; PainInt, Pain Interference.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Heat Map of the correlation between mood and posture angles for the EC condition. Dep, Depression; PainSev, Pain Severity; PainInt, Pain Interference.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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