Altered Effective Connectivity of Resting-State Networks by Tai Chi Chuan in CFS Patients: A Multivariate Granger Causality Study, 2022, Li et al

Numerous evidence has shown that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have changes in resting brain functional connectivity, but there is no study on the brain network effect of Tai Chi Chuan intervention in CFS.

To explore the influence of Tai Chi Chuan exercise on the causal relationship between brain functional networks in patients with CFS, 21 patients with CFS and 19 healthy controls were recruited for resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scanning and 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) scale assessment before and after 1month-long training in Tai Chi Chuan. We extracted the resting brain networks using the independent component analysis (ICA) method, analyzed the changes of FC in these networks, conducted Granger causality analysis (GCA) on it, and analyzed the correlation between the difference causality value and the SF-36 scale. Compared to the healthy control group, the SF-36 scale scores of patients with CFS were lower at baseline. Meanwhile, the causal relationship between sensorimotor network (SMN) and default mode network (DMN) was weakened.

The above abnormalities could be improved by Tai Chi Chuan training for 1 month. In addition, the correlation analyses showed that the causal relationship between SMN and DMN was positively correlated with the scores of Role Physical (RP) and Bodily Pain (BP) in CFS patients, and the change of causal relationship between SMN and DMN before and after training was positively correlated with the change of BP score. The findings suggest that Tai Chi Chuan is helpful to improve the quality of life for patients with CFS. The change of Granger causality between SMN and DMN may be a readout parameter of CFS. Tai Chi Chuan may promote the functional plasticity of brain networks in patients with CFS by regulating the information transmission between them.

Open access, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2022.858833/full

 

People who can take two one hour long Tai Chi lessons a week and practice at home for 30 minutes each day have an improved health related quality of life by doing Tai Chi compared to not doing Tai Chi. MRI scans showed some areas of the brain glowed a bit more after a month of Tai Chi, in people who can lie perfectly still for 30 minutes at a time without their muscles spasming, joints locking and/or tendons burning unbearably.

 

They may as well have had a salmon do Tai Chi then undergo the fMRI.

https://www.wired.com/2009/09/fmrisalmon/amp

 

I tried Tai Chi for a while, back when I was steadily deteriorating, and before I knew about pacing. I thought that ok, clearly I can't do vigorous physical activities any more but Tai Chi is so gentle and everyone says it's so good for health. Well, I got worse... and worse... and worse...

On a more scientific note, there was this paper on resting state network changes in response to exercise that somehow escaped discussion to date:

Submaximal Exercise Provokes Increased Activation of the Anterior Default Mode Network During the Resting State as a Biomarker of Postexertional Malaise in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (2021) Rayhan & Baraniuk

Thread: https://www.s4me.info/threads/subma...biomarker-of-pem-in-me-cfs-rayhan-2021.24099/

Haven't read the Rayhan & Baraniuk paper properly but the gist seems to be that at rest, before exercise, (certain parts of?) the DMN are less activated in ME than in HC but after exercise activation increases in ME but decreases in HC. The paper also mentions sensorimotor networks but I can't work out right now if that's in any way relevant to the Thai Chi paper here. It's time for my "resting state" otherwise known as bedtime .

 

When I was a very mild patient in the 80s I was able to do a little Tai Chi. Even as a very mild patient after a couple of weeks of light training it was too much. The same went for Chi Kung. This was some years before my OI became an observable issue.