Zou, Liye, Pan, Zhujun, Yeung, Albert et al. · Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2018 · DOI
This review looked at 22 studies about Baduanjin, a gentle Chinese exercise that combines movement with mental focus. The studies suggest that Baduanjin may help improve thinking abilities, mood, sleep, and physical symptoms in people with various conditions, including those with chronic fatigue-like illness. However, the authors note that better-quality, longer-lasting studies are needed before we can be confident about these benefits.
This review is relevant to ME/CFS because it specifically identified chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness as one clinical population studied with Baduanjin. The review's focus on cognitive function, psychological well-being, and physiological parameters—all areas affected in ME/CFS—suggests this gentle, mind-body approach warrants further investigation as a potential adjunctive rehabilitation strategy for ME/CFS patients.
This review does not prove that Baduanjin is an effective treatment for ME/CFS or that it can replace standard medical care. The review itself highlights that the included studies lack methodological rigor, and the abstract does not provide details on the quality or sample sizes of individual studies examining chronic fatigue-like illness specifically. High-quality, randomized controlled trials specifically in ME/CFS populations are needed to establish true efficacy.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Zou, Liye, Pan, Zhujun, Yeung, Albert, Talwar, Saira, Wang, Chaoyi, Liu, Yang, et al. (2018). A Review Study on the Beneficial Effects of Baduanjin.. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.). https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2017.0241
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-zou-2018-review-study,
author = {Zou, Liye and Pan, Zhujun and Yeung, Albert and Talwar, Saira and Wang, Chaoyi and Liu, Yang and Shu, Yankai and Chen, Xiaoan and Thomas, Garrett Anthony},
title = {A Review Study on the Beneficial Effects of Baduanjin.},
journal = {Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.)},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1089/acm.2017.0241},
note = {PubMed: 29227709},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/zou-2018-review-study},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/zou-2018-review-study
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.