Objective. To investigate the effects of practicing Baduanjin Qigong on different health outcomes. Methods. Six electronic databases were used for literature search through entering the following key words: Baduanjin Qigong, quality of life, sleep quality, and health-related outcomes. Results. Nineteen randomized controlled trials were used for meta-analysis. The aggregated results from this systematic review have shown significant benefits in favour of Baduanjin Qigong on quality of life (SMD, −0.75; 95% CI −1.26 to −0.24; P = 0.004), sleep quality (SMD, −0.55; 95% CI −0.97 to −0.12; P = 0.01), balance (SMD, −0.94; 95% CI −1.59 to 0.30; P = 0.004), handgrip strength (SMD, −0.69; 95% CI −1.2 to −0.19; P = 0.007), trunk flexibility (SMD, −0.66; 95% CI −1.13 to −0.19; P = 0.006), systolic (SMD, −0.60; 95% CI −0.94 to −0.27; P = 0.0004) and diastolic blood pressure (SMD, −0.46; 95% CI −0.73 to −0.20; P = 0.0005), and resting heart rate (SMD, −0.87; 95% CI −1.47 to −0.27; P = 0.005). The aggregated results of meta-analyses examining the effect of Baduanjin Qigong on leg power, cardiopulmonary endurance, and pulmonary function remain unclear because of a small number of studies. Conclusions. The aggregated results from this systematic review show that Baduanjin Qigong practice is beneficial for quality of life, sleep quality, balance, handgrip strength, trunk flexibility, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and resting heart rate. Further studies are necessary to confirm the effects of Baduanjin Qigong on leg power, cardiopulmonary endurance, and pulmonary function (e.g., vital capacity), while considering a long-term follow-up. Registration Number. This trial is registered with International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO): CRD42016036966.

The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the existing evidence on the effectiveness and safety of Tai chi, which is critical to provide guidelines for clinicians to improve symptomatic management in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). After performing electronic and manual searches of many sources, ten relevant peer-reviewed studies that met the inclusion criteria were retrieved. The existing evidence supports the effectiveness of Tai chi on improving quality of life (QOL) and functional balance in MS patients. A small number of these studies also reported the positive effect of Tai chi on flexibility, leg strength, gait, and pain. The effect of Tai chi on fatigue is inconsistent across studies. Although the findings demonstrate beneficial effects on improving outcome measures, especially for functional balance and QOL improvements, a conclusive claim should be made carefully for reasons such as methodological flaws, small sample size, lack of specific-disease instruments, unclear description of Tai chi protocol, unreported safety of Tai chi, and insufficient follow-up as documented by the existing literature. Future research should recruit a larger number of participants and utilize the experimental design with a long-term follow-up to ascertain the benefits of Tai chi for MS patients.

Background: Taichi softball was voted as one of the most popular healthpromoting exercises in the category of ball games, which is attributed to that Taichi softball is not only beneficial for lower extremity-related physical health (e.g., balance, leg strength, and flexibility), but can also develop manipulative skill and hand-eye coordination (eating, bathing, dressing, bathing required manipulative skills, grips movement and strength). However, the positive effects of Taichi softball on physical health have rarely been investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the effect of Taichi softball on physical health. Methods: Five electronic databases were used to conduct literature searches. Two review authors independently extracted data in a standardized manner. The methodological quality of studies included was independently evaluated according to the Cochrane Collaboration's for Assessing Risk of Bias from the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Review Interventions. The standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using more conservative random effects model were calculated. Results: The sample size of 411 participants ranged from 32 to 150 in the RCTs, along with a wide age range from 18 to 75. The length of Taichi softball intervention periods in the eligible studies ranged from 12 weeks to 12 months. The participants in the studies consisted of healthy college students, patients with Type 2 diabetes, and older adults from community centers. Six randomized controlled trials were used for the meta-analysis. The aggregated results are in favor of Taichi softball on improving physical health in participants with healthy status and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. The improvement on the primary components of the physical health consisted of handgrip strength 16(SMD, −0.6, 95% CI −0.84 to 0.36, p < 0.00001), trunk flexibility (SMD, −0.4, 95% CI −0.74 to −0.05, p = 0.03), static (SMD, −0.73, 95% CI −0.94 to −0.51, p < 0.00001) and dynamic balance (SMD, −0.68, 95% CI −1.2 to −0.17, p = 0.009). Conclusions: Taichi softball appears to be beneficial for improving physical health (hand strength, physical balance, flexibility, aerobic endurance, resting heart rate, diastolic and systolic pressures) among healthy adults and patients with Type 2 Diabetes. However, because of the low methodological quality of assessment, ill-designed experimental designs, and small study size, a definite conclusion of Taichi softball improving physical health can be confirmed along with high-quality studies with long follow-up.