Effects of Different Health Qigong Routines on CS Among Chinese College Students

Health Qigong, originated from Chinese traditional guidance techniques, is known as China's "six major medical techniques" together with "stone breaking", "acupuncture and moxibustion", "massage", "medicine" and "walking on stilts" of traditional Chinese medicine, and has dual functions of sports and medicine. It mainly takes its own physical activities, breathing, and psychological regulation as its main form, improving the overall functional state of the human body through both internal and external cultivation, and improving the training practice method system of its own life movement. At present, it has 9 popular routines around the world, such as the famous Yi Jin Jing, Wu Qin Xi, Ba Duan Jin, and Liu Zi Jue. In the exercise therapy of cervical spondylosis, the exercise form of Health Qigong is similar to Tai Chi, and has greater advantages compared to other sports(Tai Chi, McKinsey, Cervical Spine Exercise, Resistance Exercise, etc). Previous studies have confirmed that Health Qigong·Yijinjing combined with acupuncture and moxibustion, massage and other intervention therapies can repair cervical muscle fibers, relieve pain and improve cervical function. Health Qigong·Wuqinxi combined with other intervention therapies can positively promote the pain index, cervical mobility, and other factors in middle-aged and elderly patients with cervical spondylosis.Health Qigong·Baduanjin combined with other intervention therapies can enhance the stability of the cervical spine and not only help alleviate anxiety, depression, and other adverse psychological states in patients with cervical spondylosis, It can also reduce the degree of cervical mobility limitation, thereby reducing patient pain, alleviating clinical symptoms, improving clinical intervention effectiveness, and reducing recurrence rate. However, most studies have combined exercise therapy with physical therapy, medication therapy, and other interventions therapies, especially the study of using Health Qigong as an independent exercise therapy to intervene in cervical spondylosis is even rarer. Therefore, this study selected Health Qigong·Yijinjing, Health Qigong·Wuqinxi, and Health Qigong·Baduanjin as independent exercise intervention projects to conduct intervention research on cervical spondylosis among college students, exploring the effects of these three Health Qigong routines on pain, cervical curvature, and cervical joint disorders of Chinese college students with cervical spondylosis.

In the study, the experimental group conducted an 8-week intervention on the Health Qigong routine content according to the research design, as well as a 4-week follow-up observation. After screening, the subjects were randomly divided into three experimental groups and one control group. The control group of college students will receive an 8-week walking exercise,5 times a week for 30 minutes each time (a total of 50 minutes). Three experimental groups of college students will be trained according to the corresponding intervention content. EG1 is Health Qiong · Yijinjing, EG2 is Health Qiong · Wuqinxi, and EG3 is Health Qiong · Baduanjin, 5 times a week for 30 minutes each time (a total of 50 minutes). All groups of college students will undergo NDI and MPQ questionnaires, as well as measurements of cervical curvature and range of motion using X-rays and protractors, at the end of intervention in the first and eighth weeks, as well as follow-up in the twelfth week after intervention.Then, two Chinese Health Qigong level 1 social sports instructors will teach and supervise the movement standards of the experimental group. Each training session needs to strictly follow the participant's exercise mode, adhere to the exercise from low intensity to high intensity, from simple to difficult, from a single movement to the completion of the entire journey, and provide sufficient rest and Q\&A time at the end of each intervention to avoid affecting the experimental level.

Content of Control Group:

Week 1-8: During the intervention period in the experimental group, after warm-up exercise, walk for 30 minutes on the track and field, and then cool down. Warming up exercise includes:head movements,neck movements,shoulder movements,chest expansion exercise,waist rotation,body rotation, lunge movements,leg movements,knee joint movements,ankle movements.

Week 9-12:Stop walking and resume daily activities. Collect data again after week 12.

Content of Experimental Group:

Week 1-2:According to the research design, college students from three experimental groups will learn warm-up activities, basic skills, and individual routine movements related to the corresponding routines. Among them, basic skills include breathing, hand type, step type, trunk, and pile skill. The routine actions of each experimental group vary depending on the intervention content.

Week 3-8:At this stage, after mastering the basic skills and movements of the intervention program, the college students in the three experimental groups, focus on practicing the complete routine movements, and during this process, focus on repeating movements related to the neck.

Week 9-12:Stop intervention and resume daily activities. Collect data again after week 12.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* College students aged 18-24 who experience discomfort symptoms such as neck pain and limited neck mobility;
* The X-ray shows changes in cervical curvature and is diagnosed as neck type of cervical spondylosis;
* The subjects have never sought medical attention or taken relevant medication due to cervical spondylosis;
* The subjects do not have a personal exercise plan or professional exercise background;
* The subjects are in good physical condition and possess basic athletic abilities.

Exclusion Criteria:

* If the subjects have experienced neck sprains in the past month or has experienced acute neck trauma during the experiment, which limits neck movement, it will be excluded;
* Subjects with shoulder periarthritis, rheumatic myofibrositis, neurasthenia, and other neck and shoulder pain not caused by cervical disc degeneration were excluded;
* If the subjects suffer from various congenital deformities, inflammation, tuberculosis, tumors, and other diseases of the bone itself that can cause discomfort in the neck, they are excluded;
* If the subjects are absent for more than 5 times, it will be considered as sample shedding and will be excluded.
* If the subjects fail to participate in any data collection on time, they will be excluded.