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Remote Tai Chi for Knee Osteoarthritis
Remote Tai Chi for Knee Osteoarthritis: An Embedded Pragmatic Trial
Who can join
Ages 50 to 100 · All sexes
Full eligibility criteria
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 daysAbout the study
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.
What is being tested
- Remote Tai Chi (other)
Sponsor: Tufts Medical Center · Participants: 480 · Started: Apr 7, 2025
Contact the study team
- Chenchen Wang, MD, MSc · Phone: 617-636-3251
- Sherwood Alexis, MHA, MBA · Phone: 617-636-2612
Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT06384898
Locations in the U.S.
| Massachusetts | Tufts Medical Center, Boston |
Conditions
From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 29, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.