Mind-Body Exercise for COPD: A Pilot Study

February 2, 2026 updated by: Gloria Y. Yeh, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Tai Chi Exercise in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

This is a pilot randomized controlled trial of feasibility and preliminary effects of a 12 week tai chi intervention vs. usual care in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

10

Phase

  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215
        • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

45 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • physician diagnosis of COPD
  • FEV1<65% of predicted and FEV1/FVC<0.70
  • ≥45 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

  • COPD exacerbation requiring ER visit or hospitalization within past month
  • planned major pulmonary intervention in coming 3 months
  • severe peripheral vascular disease/claudication or other physical condition precluding walk test
  • inability to perform bicycle ergometry
  • severe cognitive dysfunction (MMSE ≤ 24)
  • inability to speak English
  • current participation in a pulmonary rehabilitation or regular practice of tai chi

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Usual Care
Experimental: Tai Chi
Behavioral: Tai Chi exercise
12-week tai chi exercise class

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Study feasibility

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Quality of life
Exercise capacity

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Collaborators

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Gloria Yeh, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 3, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 3, 2009

First Posted (Estimated)

November 5, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 4, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 2, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2007P000065

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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