Tai Chi for Knee OA Pain Management: a Mechanistic Study

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Knee Osteoarthritis, Mind-body Exercise

In brief

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.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT04046003

Run by

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

People needed

33

Starts

2019-09-01

Expected to finish

2024-08-31

Last updated by the study team

2025-03-28

Who can join

Age: any. Sex: female. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

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.

Where it is running

• Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center — Lubbock, Texas, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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