The aims of this study were to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in individuals with long-term, non-specific neck pain before and after treatment with Qigong versus exercise therapy and to compare their HRQoL with an age and sex-matched reference population. A total of 122 persons were randomly assigned to either Qigong or exercise therapy. HRQoL was measured with the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and pain intensity was assessed with a visual analogue scale (VAS) before and immediately after treatment, and at 12-month follow-up. Both treatment groups improved on all subscales; however, no differences were observed between the treatment groups either before or after treatment. Those who experienced pain relief (at least 10 mm change on VAS; 53%) also significantly improved from baseline on all SF-36 subscales. Persons with chronic neck pain had significantly lower scores on all SF-36 subscales than normative reference values both before and after treatment. The results of this study indicate no differences between Qigong and exercise therapy in HRQoL outcome; however, broad HRQoL improvements seem to be contingent on significant pain reduction. As pain reduction was achieved in roughly half of the study group, more work is needed to refine these therapies, to identify neck pain persons most likely to benefit from them and to develop other physiotherapy treatment strategies suitable to non-responders.

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