The Science of Tai Chi and Qigong as Whole Person Health-Part II: Evidence Gaps and Opportunities for Future Research and Implementation.

The emerging paradigm of whole person health shares many core principles with traditional complementary and integrative health frameworks, including Tai Chi and Qigong (TCQ). In the fall of 2023, the Harvard Medical School Osher Center for Integrative Health hosted the inaugural international conference on : at Harvard Medical School. A two-part white paper was written to summarize key conference topics, findings, and issues. Part II presented here summarizes evidence gaps and future research opportunities, including: understudied clinical conditions and populations, impact of long-term TCQ training, understanding the impact of specific TCQ styles, training regimens, dosage, and contextual effects; implementation, cost-effectiveness, and medical utilization research; individual data meta-analysis, and teaching competencies, credentialing, and licensure. Part I of this white paper discusses the rationale for the conference, synthesizes the state of evidence for TCQ as rehabilitative and preventive tools for a range of clinical conditions, and summarizes the translational research informing therapeutic mechanisms associated with TCQ training.