Remote Tai Chi for Knee Osteoarthritis

NCT ID: NCT06384898

Last Updated: 2025-07-08

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

480 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2025-04-07

Study Completion Date

2028-08-31

Brief Summary

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The goal of this pragmatic randomized trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of remote Tai Chi to treat knee pain in adults with knee osteoarthritis. The main questions the trial aims to answer are:

* Compared to routine care, will patients with Knee OA receiving remote Tai Chi exhibit greater improvement in knee-related pain (WOMAC pain score, primary outcome), pain interference (PROMIS-Pain Interference, secondary outcome), and health-related quality of life at 3 months?
* Does remote tai chi decreases healthcare utilization and analgesic use over the one-year study period?

Researchers will compare remote Tai Chi added to routine care to routine care alone to see if remote tai chi works to treat knee osteoarthritis pain. Participants will participate in remotely delivered web-based tai chi sessions, twice a week for 12 weeks, or will continue to receive routine care. Participants will be followed for 12 months after randomization.

Detailed Description

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Investigators will conduct a 12-month embedded, pragmatic, hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation, individually randomized group-treatment trial that will compare the effects of a 3-month twice weekly remotely delivered web-based Tai Chi intervention plus routine care versus routine care alone across four health care systems (Tufts Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, University of California Los Angeles Health, and Cleveland Clinic) in four geographic regions (Eastern Massachusetts, Southern California, Northeast Ohio (Cleveland Clinic), Southern Florida (Cleveland Clinic). Investigators will enroll a total of 480 diverse patients with a clinical diagnosis of Knee OA. Participants will be evaluated at baseline and 3 months, with additional follow-up at 6 and 12 months.

Conditions

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Knee Osteoarthritis

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

The study is an individually randomized group-treatment (IRGT) trial. Individuals randomly allocated to remote Tai Chi receive the intervention with other participants through an instructor.
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Investigators

Study Groups

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Tai Chi + Routine Care

The intervention will be delivered via a HIPAA-secure web-based video platform. All remote Tai Chi sessions will be 60 minutes, twice a week, for 3 months. All program components will use the Yang style Tai Chi, and every session will include warm up, review of principles, meditation with movement, breathing techniques and relaxation.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Remote Tai Chi

Intervention Type OTHER

Tai Chi mind-body exercise is a complex, multi-component nonpharmacological intervention integrating physical, psychological, emotional, and behavioral elements.

Routine Care

Participants will be encouraged to continue their ongoing care for Knee OA by their providers. In addition, primary care providers and other participating clinicians in the health system will receive information from the study team on routine care or "2019 ACR Guideline-Based Care." At the end of the 12-month trial period, routine care participants will be offered access to recordings for the full 3-month Tai Chi program (24 sessions).

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Remote Tai Chi

Tai Chi mind-body exercise is a complex, multi-component nonpharmacological intervention integrating physical, psychological, emotional, and behavioral elements.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Age 50 years or older
* Treating clinician diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis
* Have a score of 40 (visual analog version) or greater on at least 1 of the 5 questions in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pain subscale (range of 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater pain) at baseline.
* Able to provide informed consent
* If randomized to the Routine Care group, willing to abstain from Tai Chi programs until completion of the study
* If randomized to the Tai Chi group, willing to comply with the Tai Chi program (twice-a-week remote sessions for 12 weeks)
* Has access to a home computer or device that will allow telehealth (bidirectional audio and video) delivery of the intervention
* Is an active patient at one of the 4 participating healthcare system

Exclusion Criteria

* Currently practicing Tai Chi
* Serious medical conditions (e.g., dementia, significant neurological deficits or neurodegenerative disorder, active cancer treatment, psychosis, sensory deficits) limiting the participant's ability to participate in the Tai Chi safely, as determined by the principal investigators
* Unable to walk without a cane or other assistive device
* Any previous or scheduled knee replacement
* Reports severe depression defined by a Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) score of 29 or more.
* Reports suicidal ideations defined by a score on BDI-II item of 2 or 3 ('I would like to kill myself' or 'I would kill myself if I had the chance').
* Not English speaking
* Enrollment in any other clinical trial within the last 30 days
Minimum Eligible Age

50 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

100 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Boston Medical Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of California, Los Angeles

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

The Cleveland Clinic

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

NIH

Sponsor Role collaborator

Tufts Medical Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Chenchen Wang, MD, MSc

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Tufts Medical Center

Robert Saper, MD, MPH

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

The Cleveland Clinic

Eric Roseen, DC, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Boston Medical Center

Helen Lavetrsky, MD, MS

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of California, Los Angeles

Locations

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Tufts Medical Center

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Chenchen Wang, MD, MSc

Role: CONTACT

617-636-3251

Sherwood Alexis, MHA, MBA

Role: CONTACT

617-636-5405

Facility Contacts

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Sherwood Alexis, MHA, MBA

Role: primary

617-636-5405

Related Links

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Other Identifiers

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UH3AT012413

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

STUDY00002259

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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