Online Unsupervised Tai Chi Intervention for Knee Pain and Function in People With Knee Osteoarthritis

Can a 12-week unsupervised multimodal online tai chi intervention improve knee pain and physical function in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA)?This randomized clinical trial of 178 adults with clinically diagnosed knee OA found that a 12-week unsupervised online tai chi program with a mobile app to encourage adherence and online OA educational information improved participants’ knee pain on walking and physical function more than online OA educational information alone.These findings indicate that this freely available online tai chi intervention provides an effective, safe, accessible, and scalable option for improving access to a guideline-recommended exercise modality for knee OA.

Corresponding Author: Kim L. Bennell, PhD, Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine, Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, 161 Barry St, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia (k.bennell@unimelb.edu.au).

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