Li, Yuanyuan, Wu, Kang, Hu, Xiaojie et al. · Frontiers in neurology · 2022 · DOI
This study looked at how a traditional Chinese exercise called Tai Chi Chuan affects the brain in ME/CFS patients. Using brain imaging, researchers found that ME/CFS patients had weaker communication between two important brain networks compared to healthy people. After just one month of Tai Chi Chuan training, this brain communication improved, and patients reported better quality of life, especially with less pain and better physical function.
This is the first study to examine how Tai Chi Chuan affects brain network connectivity in ME/CFS patients, providing a potential mechanistic explanation for how this low-impact exercise might help. The finding that brain network changes correlate with clinical improvement suggests that brain imaging measures could eventually help track treatment response in ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that Tai Chi Chuan is superior to other interventions or appropriate for all ME/CFS patients, particularly those with severe post-exertional malaise. The small sample size and lack of a control group receiving sham exercise or standard care limit the ability to confirm causality. Correlation between brain changes and symptom improvement does not establish that the brain changes caused the symptom improvement.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Li, Yuanyuan, Wu, Kang, Hu, Xiaojie, Xu, Tianjiao, Li, Zongheng, Zhang, Yong, et al. (2022). Altered Effective Connectivity of Resting-State Networks by Tai Chi Chuan in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients: A Multivariate Granger Causality Study.. Frontiers in neurology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2022.858833
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-li-2022-altered-effective,
author = {Li, Yuanyuan and Wu, Kang and Hu, Xiaojie and Xu, Tianjiao and Li, Zongheng and Zhang, Yong and Li, Kuangshi},
title = {Altered Effective Connectivity of Resting-State Networks by Tai Chi Chuan in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients: A Multivariate Granger Causality Study.},
journal = {Frontiers in neurology},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3389/fneur.2022.858833},
note = {PubMed: 35720086},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/li-2022-altered-effective},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/li-2022-altered-effective
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