A Brain Imaging Study of Tai Chi on Fibromyalgia

Status

UNKNOWN

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01857219

Enrollment

Registered

2013-05-20

Start date

2013-01-31

Completion date

2020-08-31

Last updated

2020-02-25

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Fibromyalgia

Keywords

fMRI

Brief summary

To accomplish our Specific Aims, we propose to conduct a two-session fMRI experiment in up to 30 patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and up to 30 healthy controls. All subjects will be invited to complete the second, identical fMRI session about 3 months following completion of the first session. Fibromyalgia subjects will complete their scans before and after a 12-week Tai Chi intervention in collaboration with Tufts Medical Center.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALTai chi

Study design

Allocation

Intervention model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 50 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

Criteria for fibromyalgia patients. Inclusion Criteria: * Volunteers 18-50 years of age. * Fibromyalgia for at least the past 3 months, as determined by the referring physician. * At least a 10th grade English-reading level; English can be a second language provided that the patients feel they understand all the questions used in the assessment measures.

Exclusion criteria

* Specific causes of pain (e.g., cancer, fractures, spinal stenosis, infections) * History of cardiac, respiratory, or nervous system disease that, in the investigator's judgment, precludes participation in the study because of a heightened potential for adverse outcome. * Presence of any contraindications to fMRI scanning. For example: cardiac pacemaker, metal implants, fear of closed spaces, pregnancy. Criteria for healthy adults. Inclusion Criteria: * Volunteers 18-50 years of age. * At least a 10th grade English-reading level; English can be a second language provided that the patients feel they understand all the questions used in the assessment measures.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Arterial spin labeling (ASL) before and after Tai Chi intervention.	12 weeks	A method to assess cerebral blood flow change (at rest) through functional magnetic in resonance imaging in response to Tai Chi intervention.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Resting-state BOLD fMRI before and after Tai Chi intervention.	12 weeks	A method to measure spontaneous brain activity fluctuations through functional magnetic resonance imaging in response to Tai Chi intervention.

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026