Evidence library · Joint pain

Does tai chi and qigong affect joint pain in menopause? What 6 studies found

Studies of tai chi and qigong in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women that measured joint pain. 5 reported an improvement and 1 found no difference against the comparison group.

  1. A meta-analysis of 16 trials in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis found traditional Chinese exercise improved bone mineral density, pain, balance, and quality of life versus conventional care alone.

    Reported an improvementMeta-analysis · 1,288 participants pooled · 2024PostmenopausalCited 6 timesPubMed

  2. A systematic review of 18 trials found that yoga, tai chi, meditation and relaxation practices often improved overall menopausal symptoms, hot flushes, mood, sleep and musculoskeletal pain.

    Reported an improvementSystematic review · 882 participants pooled · 2010Midlife womenCited 58 timesPubMed

  3. A meta-analysis of 15 RCTs with 1018 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis found traditional Chinese exercises such as Ba Duanjin improved lumbar spine bone density and reduced pain versus controls.

    Reported an improvementMeta-analysis · 1,018 participants pooled · 2025PostmenopausalPubMed

  4. Postmenopausal women who practiced a modified Eight-Section Brocade exercise for 12 months, with or without calcium, had increased bone density, less back pain and better balance than controls.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 198 women · 52 weeks · 2015PostmenopausalCited 36 timesPubMed

  5. Postmenopausal breast cancer survivors with joint pain from aromatase inhibitors did group tai chi twice weekly for 8 weeks and reported improved anxiety, depression, fatigue and emotional wellbeing, with no significant change in pain or balance.

    No difference foundBefore-and-after study · 12 women · 8 weeks · 2013PostmenopausalCited 23 timesPubMed

  6. Postmenopausal women with mild knee or hip osteoarthritis who practiced Eight Part Vajra Gong 20 minutes, two to three times weekly for 24 months, reported greater improvements in pain and quality of life than non-exercisers.

    Reported an improvementControlled trial · 180 women · 104 weeks · 2026PostmenopausalPubMed

How to read this. Each line is one study, summarised in plain language from its PubMed abstract, with the authors' own sentence underneath on the study page. A count of studies is not a verdict: trials differ in size, length and quality, and a result in one group of women may not hold in another. Nothing here is medical advice.

Summaries are generated, then checked by machine against the abstract they came from; any summary that could not be matched word for word was left out. Our clinical lead is reviewing the summaries topic by topic, and this note will change when that is done. Corpus last refreshed 2026-11-03. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix the summary or remove the study.

Other exercise types and joint pain