Clinical trial NCT02868840: Tai Chi for Stroke Rehabilitation on Balance and Cognition
Official title: Evaluating the Effect of Tai Chi Applied Stroke Rehabilitation on Physical and Cognitive Functioning
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stroke
Keywords: stroke
Tai ji
postural balance
cognition
Lead sponsor: Chungnam National University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Research Foundation, Singapore
name: Chungnam National University Hospital
First posted: 2016-08-16
Enrollment: 50
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 30
Maximum age (years): 70
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art, is a low intense aerobic exercise characterized by continuous movements that embrace the mind, body, and spirit. Tai Chi addresses the integration and balance of mind and body using the fundamental principles of slow, smooth, and continuous movement control, and the transfer of body weight while maintaining an upright and relaxed posture. The present randomized clinical trial project aims to apply the suggested principles as the typical features of Tai Chi applied stroke rehabilitation, and to evaluate the effects on physical (balance), psychological, and cognitive function.

Detailed description: Cerebrovascular disease is a major global concern. The individuals with stroke would suffer from disease associated symptoms which influence their functioning in everyday life. These symptom clusters were usually known to be sharing similar underlying mechanisms. It is clear that the development of effective stroke rehabilitation involves interdisciplinary team approach to manage physical, social, cognitive, and psychological functioning in this population.

Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art, is a low intense aerobic exercise characterized by continuous movements that embrace the mind, body, and spirit. Tai Chi addresses the integration and balance of mind and body using the fundamental principles of slow, smooth, and continuous movement control, and the transfer of body weight while maintaining an upright and relaxed posture. The newly developed style of Tai Chi for health programs is the seated Tai Chi, which shares the common Tai Chi principles while being modified to adjust the movements for patients with limited mobility.

The present randomized clinical trial project aims to apply the suggested principles as the typical features of Tai Chi applied stroke rehabilitation, and to evaluate the effects on physical (balance), psychological, and cognitive function. Only a few studies ever addressed the feasibility of Tai Chi for stroke rehabilitation, and the relationship between cognition and balance in this population is still very early stage of investigation. The main purpose of our collaborating project is to explore the direct relationship between cognition and balance in stroke patients during their rehabilitation process.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* diagnosed as stroke at least for 3 months upto 2 years
* eligible to participate rehabilitation therapy referred by primary physician

Exclusion Criteria:

* not able to understand questionnaires
* not able to stand alone for balance test

Primary outcomes:
measure: balance
timeFrame: 3 months, 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: activities of daily living
timeFrame: 3 months, 6 months
measure: knee muscle strength
timeFrame: 3 months, 6 months
Other outcomes:
measure: cognition
timeFrame: 3 months, 6 months
Locations:
city: Daejeon
country: Korea, Republic of
facility: Chungnam National University Hospital
Study officials:
affiliation: Chungnam National University
name: Rhayun Song, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Chen BL, Guo JB, Liu MS, Li X, Zou J, Chen X, Zhang LL, Yue YS, Wang XQ. Effect of Traditional Chinese Exercise on Gait and Balance for Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. PLoS One. 2015 Aug 20;10(8):e0135932. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135932. eCollection 2015.
citation: Tao J, Rao T, Lin L, Liu W, Wu Z, Zheng G, Su Y, Huang J, Lin Z, Wu J, Fang Y, Chen L. Evaluation of Tai Chi Yunshou exercises on community-based stroke patients with balance dysfunction: a study protocol of a cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2015 Feb 25;15:31. doi: 10.1186/s12906-015-0555-1.