Background: Effect of Baduanjin, as a traditional Chinese mindful movement, on patients with moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was still unknown. The aim of our study was to evaluate its efficiency on pulmonary function and exercise capacity in moderate COPD patients.
Method: A multi-center randomized controlled trial about moderate COPD patients were collected from ten hospitals in Shanghai. Tri-Ball® Respiratory training was used as the control PR intervention in this trail to evaluate the efficiency of Baduanjin. After signing informed consent, all participants recruited were followed a two-week run-in period. Participants were randomly assigned into four groups, namely Baduanjin alone, Tri-Ball® Respiratory training alone, Baduanjin combined with respiratory training, and the control group. Each group lasted for 12 weeks. The outcome assessments were conducted at four time points, namely at the 4th week and 8th week during the intervention, at the end of 12-week pulmonary rehabilitation program, and at the end of the 24-week follow up.
Result: A total of 240 participants were recruited in this prospective randomized controlled trail. After exclusion, 217 moderate COPD patients were analyzed in this study. After 12 weeks, Baduanjin traing showed improvement in pulmonary function (percent of FEV1 predicted, FEV1 pred%) and dyspnea (modified British medical research council questionnaire, mMRC scale), exercise capacity (six-minute walk distance, 6MWD), and therapeutic efficiency (COPD assessment test, CAT) in moderate COPD patients. Banduanjin presented better PR results than the control. Besides, combining Baduanjin with additional inspiratory muscle training presented better PR result than banduanjin or inrespiratory muscle exercise alone. The positive effect on parameter of pulmonary function, exercise capacity and therapeutic efficiency were perceived by subjects and continued to maintain after 24-week follow up.
Conclusion: The results of this trial indicated that traditional Baduanjin exercise could prevent COPD lung function deterioration, and provide a simple, and daily pulmonary rehabilitation measure for the patients with moderate COPD.
Trial Registration: The study protocol has been registered with the Clinical Trial Registry (NCT03892629).