Imagine your brain is a garden that was recently hit by a storm, leaving it in disarray. Now, imagine if there were gentle exercises that could help your brain heal and grow stronger, just like tending to a garden after a storm. That’s where tai chi and qigong come in! In this systematic review, researchers will dive into the existing evidence to determine whether tai chi and qigong can effectively treat traumatic brain injury (TBI). They will search various databases for clinical trials that examine the effects of these exercises on different types of TBI, the age and sex of participants, the duration of the intervention, and any adverse events. By evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each trial, researchers hope to shed light on whether tai chi and qigong can potentially provide enough benefit in TBI treatment to warrant further investigation through randomized controlled trials. If successful, this research may open up new doors for non-pharmacological approaches in TBI rehabilitation. So grab your gardening gloves and join the exploration of how these ancient practices could help heal a storm-ridden brain!

BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) adversely affects both young and old and is a growing public health issue. A number of recent trends in managing TBI, such as recommending sub-threshold aerobic activity, tailoring multi-modal treatment strategies, and studying the possible role of low-grade inflammation in those with persistent symptoms, all suggest that the physical and cognitive exercise of tai chi/qigong could have benefit.MethodDesigned in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, the following databases will be searched: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wanfang Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. All clinical trials on mild, moderate and/or severe TBI with tai chi and/or qigong as the treatment group and any comparison group, in any setting will be included. Four reviewers will independently select studies; two reviewers for the English and two for the Chinese databases. Cochrane-based risk of bias assessments will be conducted on all included studies. An analysis will then be conducted with the grading of recommendation, assessment, development, and evaluation (GRADE) instrument.ResultsThis review will summarize the clinical trial evidence on tai chi/qigong for TBI including type of TBI, age/sex of participants, type and length of intervention and comparator, outcome measures, and any adverse events. The risk of bias will be considered, and the strengths and weaknesses of each trial will be analyzed.DiscussionThe results of this review will be considered with respect to whether there is enough evidence of benefit to merit a more definitive randomized controlled trial.Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO [CRD42022364385].

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