The Effects of Eight-Week Baduanjin Exercise on Chronic Low Back Pain and Disability Among Office Workers.

NCT07338045 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: USM/JEPeM/KK/25030299
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 30
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Office workers often suffer from chronic low back pain due to long hours of sitting and poor posture. This study will test whether Baduanjin-a gentle, traditional Chinese exercise-can help reduce pain and improve physical function in office staff with long-standing back pain. Thirty participants will be randomly assigned to either practice Baduanjin for eight weeks or receive no special intervention. Researchers will measure changes in pain levels, movement ability, balance, posture, and daily functioning before and after the program. Baduanjin is a safe, low-cost, and easy-to-learn exercise that could be widely used in community health settings as a non-drug therapy for back pain.

Conditions

Low Back Pain; Baduanjin

Keywords

Office Workers; Non-pharmacological Intervention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Visual Analog Scale (VAS)

  A 100-mm horizontal line where participants mark their perceived level of low back pain intensity, with 0 mm indicating no pain and 100 mm indicating worst possible pain. The distance from 0 to the mark is measured in millimeters and used as the score.

  Baseline, 8 weeks post-intervention

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Joint Mobility Scale

  Baseline, 8 weeks post-intervention

• Berg Balance Scale

  Baseline, 8 weeks post-intervention

• Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA)

  Baseline, 8 weeks post-intervention

• Chinese version of the Lumbar Spine Dysfunction Index (CODI)

  Baseline, 8 weeks post-intervention

Study Arms (2)

Baduanjin group

EXPERIMENTAL

The Baduanjin group convened at 5:00 p.m. on a daily basis for a period of one hour, five days a week, for a total of eight weeks. The intervention period involved a total of 40 exercises. The Baduanjin exercise was overseen by two senior coaches with a minimum of five years' experience in physical education.The training programme for the eight-duanjin exercise was based on the Fitness Qigong - Baduanjin, a publication by the State General Administration of Sport, which includes ten postures (including the beginning and ending postures) (Li et al., 2015).

Behavioral: Baduanjin Exercise Program

Control group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

During the 8-week intervention period, participants in the control group will not receive any structured exercise intervention, including the Eight-Week Baduanjin Exercise Program or other physical therapy programs. They will continue with their usual daily activities without additional guidance related to low back pain management. After completion of the post-intervention data collection, participants in the control group will be offered access to the Eight-Week Baduanjin Exercise Program as a form of ethical follow-up, conducted under the supervision of a trained instructor.

Other: Usual Care / No Structured Exercise

Interventions

Baduanjin Exercise Program BEHAVIORAL

A traditional Chinese qigong-based exercise program involving eight gentle movements designed to promote circulation, strengthen muscles, and improve balance. Participants will attend supervised sessions five times per week for 8 weeks, each lasting 45 minutes.

Baduanjin group

Usual Care / No Structured Exercise OTHER

Participants will continue with their regular daily activities without receiving any structured exercise intervention or specific guidance related to low back pain management during the 8-week study period. They will be provided with information about the Baduanjin Exercise Program after the completion of all data collection, as part of an ethical follow-up measure.

Control group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 20 Years - 55 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• This study specifically targets office workers diagnosed with mechanical (or non-specific) chronic low back pain, which refers to persistent low back pain without a specific identifiable pathological cause such as disc herniation, spinal stenosis, or inflammatory diseases. Mechanical low back pain is the most common form of chronic low back pain among sedentary populations, particularly office workers, and is primarily attributed to musculoskeletal imbalances, poor posture, and prolonged sitting.Participants were included in the study if they met the following criteria:
• Age and Occupational Requirements: Office workers between the ages of 20 and 55 years with at least two years of continuous employment.
• History of Chronic Low Back Pain: Presence of persistent or recurrent low back pain localized below the costal margin and above the inferior gluteal folds, with a duration of more than three months.
• Pain Intensity Assessment: A pain score exceeding 40 mm on a 100 mm Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), indicating a moderate level of pain.
• Clinical Diagnosis Confirmation: Participants must be diagnosed with mechanical (non-specific) chronic low back pain by orthopaedic sports medicine specialists from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University. All participants will be required to submit their annual full-body medical examination report provided by the university between May 30 and July 30 each year. The Principal Investigator will collect these reports in advance and arrange for orthopaedic sports medicine specialists from the affiliated hospital to conduct an on-site screening at Xi'an Jiaotong University City College. During this process, specialists will review participants' medical history, evaluate physical symptoms, and consider available imaging reports (e.g., X-rays or MRI scans if previously conducted) to confirm the absence of specific spinal pathologies such as disc herniation or spinal stenosis. These specialists are experts in diagnosing and managing musculoskeletal conditions related to physical activity and sports, ensuring accurate assessment and classification of participants' chronic low back pain. Their involvement guarantees both clinical validity and safety in participant selection.
• Cognitive and Physical Function: Normal cognitive function, adequate communication and interaction skills, and the physical ability to perform the basic movements of Baduanjin exercise. Participants must also have voluntarily provided written informed consent and agreed to comply with all study procedures throughout the research period.
• Employment Status: Staff members currently employed at Xi'an Jiaotong University City College. This criterion ensures that the study population consists exclusively of sedentary office workers within the university setting, enhancing homogeneity and relevance to the target demographic.

You may not qualify if:

• Subjects are excluded from this study if they:
• Those with other spinal pathologies such as lumbar fractures, lumbar disc herniation, spondylolisthesis, intravertebral occupancy, lumbar spinal stenosis, and severe osteoporosis. These conditions may interfere with the interpretation of outcomes related to chronic low back pain of non-specific origin, and could also affect the safety or effectiveness of the Baduanjin exercise intervention.
• Persons with contraindications such as leukaemia, thrombocytopenia and other diseases with bleeding tendency, acute infectious diseases and oncological diseases. These systemic illnesses may affect participant safety or confound the results, and are therefore not included in the target population of office workers with chronic low back pain.
• Suffering from diseases of liver and kidney function, serious cardiac disorders, and other diseases affecting the study. The presence of these comorbidities could influence the ability of participants to safely complete the Baduanjin exercise program, and thus they are excluded to ensure homogeneity among the target group of individuals with chronic low back pain.
• Women who are pregnant. Pregnancy-related changes in posture and musculoskeletal loading can affect low back pain symptoms and response to exercise, which may confound the study findings.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universiti Sains Malaysia: lead

Study Sites (1)

Xi'an Jiaotong University City College

Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710018, China

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Qi Y, Zhuang M, Liang R, Shaharudin S. The effect of traditional Chinese exercises on low Back pain and disability in middle-aged and older adults: A systematic review. Prev Med Rep. 2025 Apr 14;54:103072. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2025.103072. eCollection 2025 Jun.

  PMID: 40290641 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Low Back Pain

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Back Pain; Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Central Study Contacts

YANAN QI, MSc （Master of Science）

CONTACT

+86 18612567294; QIYANAN@student.usm.my

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: The outcomes assessor was blinded to group assignment during all assessment procedures. Participants were assessed using standardized tools (VAS, CODI, Berg Balance Scale...) by a trained evaluator who was unaware of the participant's group allocation. All assessments were conducted in a neutral environment without any reference to intervention status.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Model Details: This is a parallel-group randomized controlled trial with two arms: the Baduanjin intervention group and the control group. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two groups. The intervention lasted for 8 weeks, during which the Baduanjin group received structured exercise training, while the control group did not receive any structured exercise intervention. After completion of post-intervention data collection, participants in the control group were offered access to the Baduanjin program as part of an ethical follow-up measure.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 1, 2026
• First Posted: January 13, 2026
• Study Start: March 15, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026
• Last Updated: January 13, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CN (1)