Protocol Impact of Tai Chi Therapy on Fatigue and Cognitive Function in Individuals With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Protocol for a Pilot... 2025 Wang et al

Andy

Andy

Retired committee member
Full title: Impact of Tai Chi Therapy on Fatigue and Cognitive Function in Individuals With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Abstract

Background:
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a psychosomatic disorder characterized by persistent fatigue, primarily involving physical and mental exhaustion, with greater emphasis on the latter. This leads to a deterioration in concentration and memory. These symptoms affect cognitive functions, including attention and memory, to varying degrees. Previous research has shown that Tai Chi can help reduce fatigue in individuals with CFS. However, the relationship between alleviating CFS-related fatigue through Tai Chi and its impact on cognitive functions remains unclear. The effects of Tai Chi on cognitive functions in individuals with CFS have not been clinically validated, and its efficacy and safety have yet to be examined through large-scale randomized controlled trials. Therefore, this protocol outlines a pilot randomized, parallel, single-blind clinical trial designed to evaluate the impact of Tai Chi therapy on fatigue and cognitive functions in individuals with CFS, using both subjective and objective assessments.

Objective:
This pilot study aims to explore the preliminary efficacy and safety of Tai Chi in reducing fatigue and improving cognitive function in patients with CFS, and to generate data to inform future large-scale trials.

Methods:
We will conduct a randomized, analyst-blinded, parallel-controlled trial with a 12-week intervention period and a 4-week follow-up. Enrolled patients will be randomly assigned to either the Tai Chi group (30 patients) or the health education group (30 patients). The Tai Chi group will receive the 24-style simplified Tai Chi intervention, while the control group will receive a health education intervention. Following the 12-week intervention, a 4-week follow-up will be conducted. The Tai Chi group will train 3 times per week, consisting of 2 in-person sessions at the Physical Education Center of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and 1 self-directed session guided online by an instructor. The primary outcome measure is the 20-item Multi-Dimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20). The secondary outcome measures include the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Attention Network Test (ANT), working memory performance (N-Back task), and magnetic resonance imaging.

Results:
The research protocol and informed consent form were approved by the Shanghai Clinical Research Ethics Committee on March 18, 2024 (approval number SECCR2024-22-01). Participant recruitment began in April 2024. All interventions and concurrent data collection will be completed by October 2025, and the 4-week postintervention follow-up assessments will be finalized by the end of October 2025. Data management is still ongoing; therefore, data analysis has not yet been performed.

Conclusions:
As a pilot trial, the findings of this study will provide preliminary clinical evidence on the role of Tai Chi in improving cognitive function in patients with CFS and will serve as a foundation for designing future large-scale trials.

Open access
 
Andy said:
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a psychosomatic disorder characterized by persistent fatigue, primarily involving physical and mental exhaustion, with greater emphasis on the latter.
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The trial registration here doesn’t state which diagnostic criteria they are going to use. Based on the description above, it very well might be something like Oxford.
Inclusion criteria

(1) Patients who met the diagnostic criteria;
(2) Age 18-60,regardless of gender, right-handed;
(3) No other treatment received within the last month;
(4) Agreement and signing of an informed consent form.
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Yup, stunningly wrong.

I dont think these people understand ME/CFS at all. I wouldn't really want to read anything they publish.

But the practice of Tai Chi would be interesting as a study, if it can be investigated by rigorously scientific academics. In particular I am curious whether this kind of exercise with cognitive aspects involved has any effect on the development of the substantia nigra, blood supply and volume etc and whether this in turn has any effect on Parkinson's outcomes, in comparison say with other forms of athletic training like running.
 
As comically wrong as their understanding of ME/CFS is, it's not any worse than the psychobehavioralists', just different. It's the difference that years of tuning deceitful narratives make, compared to simply saying out loud the most basic ignorant misunderstanding that was the starting point of all this.

But for sure this trial is about average BPS quality. I've seen worse. It's just all bad, though. But they can certainly follow the same formula and conclude whatever they feel like. They even understand that you can just keep doing "pilot trials" for years and years and years, and no one will ask any questions about it.
 
Spartacus said:
Absolutely. I was told to try Tai Chi 20 years ago. I discovered it is absolutely impossible to do with OI.
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That was my experience too. I had practiced tai chi for about 10 years attending a weekly class and occasional added sessions with some of the group, but when I developed ME, or worsened ME, I slowly had to sit out more and more of the class especially bits that incorporated Qigong when we stood more still. Not possible with ME.
 
Binkie4 said:
but when I developed ME, or worsened ME, I slowly had to sit out more and more of the class especially bits that incorporated Qigong when we stood more still. Not possible with ME.
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Isometric exercises are excellent, for the rest of the population, but not for me any more. Pre-ME I used to score high in general fitness tests and exercise capacity. Suddenly I didn't and couldn't any more, at least not without sometimes extreme payback.
 
I don't find any exertion based exercise beneficial in the way it was before ME. Absence of anabolic muscle building seems to be one of the symptoms of my CFIDS subtype of ME with recurring viruses. The only exercise which helps me at all is gentle stretching.

I am interested by Tai Chi. Having tried it and acupuncture, I regard the concept of chi as different in the two arts. With Tai Chi it seems to be a name for focusing on the internal perception of blood flow and possibly influence over its regulation, as well as body position. Whereas acu-puncture / pressure / moxibustion etc meridians and points are more to do with sub cutaneous pain reception inducing changes in the autonomic nervous system which may influence blood flow among other things.

To what extent the effects of either are due to placebo effect I do not know.

Tai Chi practice as I understand it encourages awareness of body position and thereby proprioreception, which is an important component of the neurological feedback mechanisms which allow coordination of movement. Which is why I am curious whether the practice changes the likelihood of developing Parkinson's disease at all because of the way this illness affects coordination of movement significantly.

My curiosity has a personal inspiration as mother has Parkinson's. I wonder how to help her and also myself of course in the future to prevent it, though the majority of Parkinon's cases are regarded as non genetic and there is discussion about whether it can be induced by exposure to toxins, like paraquat or trichloroethylene.
 
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