Tai Chi for Knee OA Pain Management: a Mechanistic Study

NCT04046003 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: Tai Chi for Knee OA pain
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 33
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study is to determine how 8-week Tai Chi intervention alters plasma endocannabinoid and its receptors in monocytes/marcrophages, plasma oxylipinds, plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor, brain white matter connectivity/efficiency, and functional/clinical outcomes in women with knee OA.

Conditions

Knee Osteoarthritis; Mind-body Exercise

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• endocannabinoid

  plasma endocannabinoid levels

  Changes from bseline endocannabinoid levels at 8 weeks

• oxylipins

  plasma oxylipins levels

  Changes from baseline oxylipins levels at 8 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• endocannabinoid receptors expression

  Changes from baseline the affinity of endocannabinoid receptor expression at 8 weeks

• BDNF

  Changes from baseline BDNF levels at 8 weeks

• white matter connectivity/efficiency of various fiber tracts in the brain

  Change from baselinewhite matter connectivity/efficiency of various fiber tracts in the brain at 8 weeks

• pain sensitivity

  Change from baseline pain sensitivity scale at 8 weeks

• Pain assessment

  Change from baseline pain scale at 8 weeks

Study Arms (1)

Tai Chi intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

24-form Yang style Tai Chi

Behavioral: Tai chi exercise

Interventions

Tai chi exercise BEHAVIORAL

24-form Yang style Tai Chi (60 min/session, 3 sessions/week) for 8 weeks

Tai Chi intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Gender Eligibility Details: Postmenopausal women.
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Postmenopausal women.
• WOMAC pain score ≥ 50 on at least 1 of the 5 questions in pain subscale (range of 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater pain.
• English literacy.
• Able to undergo an MRI scan
• Diagnosed Have the following symptoms associated with knee OA based on American College of Rheumatology clinical classification criteria for osteoarthritis (Peat 2006). Pain in the knee. Need to at least 3 of the following: over 50 years of age, less than 30 minutes of morning stiffness, crepitus on active motion, bony tenderness, bony enlargement, or no palpable warmth of synovium.

You may not qualify if:

• Prior experience with mind-body practice (e.g. TC, Qi Gong, yoga, or acupuncture) or physical therapy programs for knee OA within the past 3 months.
• Severe medical limitations (i.e., dementia, symptomatic heart or vascular disease, or recent stroke) precluding full participation.
• Medical/neurologic or other systemic diseases affecting the musculoskeletal systems (i.e. polio/Parkinson's/multiple sclerosis, etc. in addition to cerebral vascular accident or stroke) and diabetes with peripheral neuropathy affecting their sensory/balance.
• Intra-articular steroid injection or reconstructive surgery on most severely affected knee in the past three months.
• Intra-articular hyaluronic acid injections on most severely affected knee in the past six months.
• Inability to walk without an assistive device.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center: lead

Study Sites (1)

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Lubbock, Texas, 79430, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Shen CL, Newman JW, Elmassry MM, Borkowski K, Chyu MC, Kahathuduwa C, Neugebauer V, Watkins BA. Tai Chi exercise reduces circulating levels of inflammatory oxylipins in postmenopausal women with knee osteoarthritis: results from a pilot study. Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Aug 16;10:1210170. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1210170. eCollection 2023.

  PMID: 37654656 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Osteoarthritis, Knee

Interventions

Aquatic Therapy

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Osteoarthritis; Arthritis; Joint Diseases; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Rheumatic Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Hydrotherapy; Physical Therapy Modalities; Therapeutics; Rehabilitation

Study Officials

• Chwan-Li Shen

  Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: 24-form Yang style Tai Chi (60 min/session, 3 sessions/week) for 8 weeks.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 26, 2019
• First Posted: August 6, 2019
• Study Start: September 1, 2019
• Primary Completion: June 30, 2024
• Study Completion: August 31, 2024
• Last Updated: March 28, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)