Feasibility of identifying brain mechanisms of Qigong and behavioral outcomes after Qigong practice in people with chronic low back pain

The goal of this pilot randomized controlled clinical trial is to investigate the effect of Qigong on chronic pain and on brain function in areas and networks relevant to body awareness and chronic low back pain. Successful outcome of this pilot study will yield important pilot data to optimize the study design and methods of a future federal clinical trial application, which will be a single-center randomized controlled trial to investigate body awareness-related brain changes in activity and network connectivity, which are correlated with cLBP symptoms, and to assess Qigong’s efficacy in relieving pain, compared to exercise.