The Center of Disease Control and Prevention reports that Hawaii has a lifetime prevalence of adult asthma of 12.2% compared to the US overall (11%) . Since lung-related conditions are prevalent in Hawaii, complementary methods for fighting these problems can contribute much to health in this state.
Adhering to the Western medicine regimen for asthma and other lung-related conditions can be challenging. Nonadherence results in costly complications, hospitalizations, or even death. One of the reasons for nonadherence is that a person with asthma may have periods of symptom remission during which inhalers may be used up or misplaced. In a pediatric asthma study 63% of the children seen in the emergency room who were supposed to have had access to albuterol medication had run out of it. Natural healing methods (such as some of those studied here) that can be used immediately and without a pharmacy may help solve this problem.
Researchers are beginning to address the need for various natural healing methods to be tested for effectiveness. Rosanne Harrigan at University of Hawai’i's John A. Burns School of Medicine, has called for "research that tests the efficacy of complementary care approaches, such as qi gong, in association with standard medical therapy to improve health outcomes.”
During the Asthma Humanitarian Events of 2006, researchers measured changes in lung function of participants who had symptoms of asthma, allergies, bronchitis, sinus conditions, or cough. The Natural Healing Research Foundation is excited to report that the research demonstrated statistically significant improvements on a number of measures of lung function.
The research was done over 4˝ weeks during which there were three humanitarian events. In these, a qi gong grandmaster, Hong Liu, taught natural healing methods for asthma, allergies, sinus, and other lung-related disorders. The methods taught included free herbal patches as well as medical Qi Gong exercises, reflexology, healing foods and recipes, herbal teas and supplements. The participants studied were 10 Hawaii volunteers for research with lung or lung-related symptoms, ages 29-77.
The main research question was: Will a significant positive improvement in lung-related disorders such as asthma, sinus, and allergies occur after natural healing methods are provided?
