The Effects of Eight-Week Baduanjin Exercise on Chronic Low Back Pain and Disability Among Office Workers.

Sponsor
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Study ID
NCT07338045
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Baduanjin
  • Low Back Pain

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
20 Years - 55 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Baduanjin Exercise Program — BEHAVIORAL
    A traditional Chinese qigong-based exercise program involving eight gentle movements designed to promote circulation, strengthen muscles, and improve balance. Participants will attend supervised sessions five times per week for 8 weeks, each lasting 45 minutes.
  • Usual Care / No Structured Exercise — OTHER
    Participants will continue with their regular daily activities without receiving any structured exercise intervention or specific guidance related to low back pain management during the 8-week study period. They will be provided with information about the Baduanjin Exercise Program after the completion of all data collection, as part of an ethical follow-up measure.

Study Details

Office workers often suffer from chronic low back pain due to long hours of sitting and poor posture. This study will test whether Baduanjin-a gentle, traditional Chinese exercise-can help reduce pain and improve physical function in office staff with long-standing back pain. Thirty participants will be randomly assigned to either practice Baduanjin for eight weeks or receive no special intervention. Researchers will measure changes in pain levels, movement ability, balance, posture, and daily functioning before and after the program. Baduanjin is a safe, low-cost, and easy-to-learn exercise that could be widely used in community health settings as a non-drug therapy for back pain.

Key Dates

First listed
Jan 13, 2026
Start date
Mar 15, 2026
Status verified
May 2026
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2026
Completion
Jul 31, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
30 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT

Arms

  • Experimental: Baduanjin group
    The Baduanjin group convened at 5:00 p.m. on a daily basis for a period of one hour, five days a week, for a total of eight weeks. The intervention period involved a total of 40 exercises. The Baduanjin exercise was overseen by two senior coaches with a minimum of five years' experience in physical education.The training programme for the eight-duanjin exercise was based on the Fitness Qigong - Baduanjin, a publication by the State General Administration of Sport, which includes ten postures (including the beginning and ending postures) (Li et al., 2015).
  • Active Comparator: Control group
    During the 8-week intervention period, participants in the control group will not receive any structured exercise intervention, including the Eight-Week Baduanjin Exercise Program or other physical therapy programs. They will continue with their usual daily activities without additional guidance related to low back pain management. After completion of the post-intervention data collection, participants in the control group will be offered access to the Eight-Week Baduanjin Exercise Program as a form of ethical follow-up, conducted under the supervision of a trained instructor.

Primary Outcome Measure

Visual Analog Scale (VAS) [ Time Frame: Baseline, 8 weeks post-intervention ]

Central Contacts

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