Tai Ji for stroke rehabilitation: a randomized controlled trial on improving upper limb function and cortico-muscular coupling in stroke patients

Description

Qiurong Xie and colleagues test Tai Ji as an add-on to stroke rehabilitation, measuring both arm function and the brain-muscle conversation behind it. Their 2026 randomized trial assigned eighty-four stroke patients evenly to conventional rehabilitation alone or with an eight-form Tai Ji program, sixty minutes five times weekly for four weeks. A healthy reference group of thirty supplied baseline synergy patterns.

The Tai Ji group improved more on upper-limb motor scores and daily living independence than controls. Brain and muscle recordings showed strengthened downward drive from the motor cortex to key arm muscles, plus richer upward sensory feedback to the cortex. Muscle synergy patterns shifted toward the healthy reference. Exploratory links tied hand and wrist gains to the specific pathways that changed. The authors read the benefit as a two-way retuning of cortico-muscular coupling, pairing stronger commands with better feedback.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13560274