PainRelief.com Interview with:
Julia Zhu
Physiotherapist | PhD Candidate 
Centre for Health Exercise and Sports Medicine 
Department of Physiotherapy, Melbourne School of Health Sciences
The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 Australia

PainRelief.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Tai Chi is a type of exercise recommended for people with chronic knee pain caused by osteoarthritis. However, Tai Chi is traditionally taught in person, often in group settings that involve cost, travel and scheduling. These barriers can make participation difficult, especially for people living in regional and remote areas. There is also limited evidence showing the effect of online Tai Chi for people with chronic knee pain.

To address this, the team at the University of Melbourne developed the online unsupervised Tai Chi program (“My Joint Tai Chi”) in collaboration with a panel of expert Tai Chi instructors and people with osteoarthritis. The collaboration ensures “My Joint Tai Chi”  is appropriate for people with hip and/or knee osteoarthritis, safe for them to perform at home unsupervised and practical to be delivered online using pre-recorded videos. We then tested this program in a two-arm superiority randomized controlled trial, comparing it to an online education-only control group among people with clinically diagnosed knee osteoarthritis in Australia. 

Last Updated on October 28, 2025 by PainRelief.com