Tai-Chi Exercise Reduces Fatigue in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

July 9, 2026 updated by: Chairul Huda

Tai-Chi Exercise Reduces Fatigue in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy.

The main question it aims to answer is: Does Tai-chi training reduce fatigue in breast cancer patients? Participants performed the exercise on the day agreed upon with the researcher. All participants were given routine care, and leaflets related to chemotherapy, psychological aspects of cancer patients, nutrition, and management of cancer symptoms. While respondents in the intervention group received 5 times Tai-Chi practice interventions in a week for 3 weeks with a duration of 30 minutes of each practice, using 18 forms of Tai-Chi shibashi adapted from Yang's style. Before the Tai-Chi intervention is implemented, standard training was given once to each respondent by an experienced Tai-Chi master, as well as video tutorials for independent practice at home demonstrated by the Tai-Chi master.

During the three weeks of practicing Tai-Chi at home, each respondent was asked to fill out a logbook for each exercise, and fill out a fatigue questionnaire every three days, while the control group was asked to fill out their daily physical activities reports on the logbook. The researcher invited the intervention group respondents to the WhatsApp Group to remind the participants to practice the Tai-Chi exercise at home every day, evaluate side effects during exercise and fill out a fatigue questionnaire in the logbook. The researcher also invited control group respondents to the WhatsApp Group to remind participants to fill in their daily physical activities and fill out fatigue questionnaires in the logbook.

Research respondents who met the inclusion criteria were randomized by research assistants using block randomization with sorted random tables, the order of randomization was kept by research assistants who were not directly involved in the study. After the respondents who met the requirements were identified and completed the pre-test, the researcher contacted the research assistant to place the respondents in the intervention or control group according to a pre-determined randomization sequence. Due to the observable nature of Tai-Chi practice, the lack of a sham comparison group, and the pre-test and post-test measurements reported by the respondents, blindness could not be performed on the respondents. Data collection and follow-up is carried out every 3 days via chat or telephone. Based on the initial sample count, there were 23 respondents in each group (n = 46), and to cover the possibility of 25% drop-out respondents, the correction for the sample size of this study was 61 respondents, 31 respondents in the intervention group, 30 respondents in the control.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The research process was guided by the CONSORT Statement for RCTs. The process involved registration, allocation, follow-up, and analysis. The recruitment process began with a feasibility assessment for potential respondents. This process was carried out when the patient conducted a phase 2 rehabilitation evaluation. Researchers initially reviewed patient data through medical records, reviewing ID, color code, age, gender, medical history, patient condition, and location of residence. Patients' communication skills were assessed during the evaluation.

This study used a randomized clinical trial design with a pre-post-test with control group approach. The inclusion criteria for the study sample were conscious and cooperative patients (compos mentis), patients with a good condition, breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, aged 18-64 years, stage 0-III, having an electronic cell phone or laptop, and willing to participate. The exclusion criteria in this study were patients with mental illness or severe cognitive impairment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

61

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

  • Indonesia
    • Jakarta Special Capital Region
      • Jakarta, Jakarta Special Capital Region, Indonesia, 11420
        • Dharmais Cancer Hospital

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

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • The inclusion criteria for the study sample were conscious and cooperative patients (compos mentis), patients with a good condition, breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, aged 18-64 years, stage 0-III, having an electronic cell phone or laptop, and willing to participate.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • The exclusion criteria in this study were patients with mental illness or severe cognitive impairment.

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
Experimental: Intervention Group
Performed Tai-Chi
Behavioral: Tai-chi

All participants were given routine care, and leaflets related to chemotherapy, psychological aspects of cancer patients, nutrition, and management of cancer symptoms. While respondents in the intervention group received 5 times Tai-Chi practice interventions in a week for 3 weeks with a duration of 30 minutes of each practice, using 18 forms of Tai-Chi shibashi adapted from Yang's style. Before the Tai-Chi intervention is implemented, standard training was given once to each respondent by an experienced Tai-Chi master, as well as video tutorials for independent practice at home demonstrated by the Tai-Chi master.

During the three weeks of practicing Tai-Chi at home, each respondent was asked to fill out a logbook for each exercise, and fill out a fatigue questionnaire every three days. The researcher invited the intervention group respondents to the WhatsApp Group to remind the participants to practice the Tai-Chi exercise at home every day, evaluate side effects during exercise.
Experimental: Control Group
Performed Daily Physical Activities
Behavioral: Daily Physical Activities
All participants were given routine care, and leaflets related to chemotherapy, psychological aspects of cancer patients, nutrition, and management of cancer symptoms. While the control group was asked to fill out their daily physical activities reports on the logbook. The researcher also invited control group respondents to the WhatsApp Group to remind participants to fill in their daily physical activities and fill out fatigue questionnaires in the logbook.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reduced Fatigue
Time Frame: 3 Weeks
Reduced Fatigue Scores
3 Weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Chairul Huda

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 Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 20, 2026

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 28, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

June 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 9, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 9, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 14, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 14, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 9, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 077/KEPK/II (Registry Identifier: Dharmais Cancer Hospital)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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