The effect of the Baduanjin exercise on COVID-19-related anxiety, psychological well-being and lower back pain of college students during the pandemic


Author: Keqiang Li1, Tamara Walczak-Kozłowska2, Mariusz Lipowski3, Jianye Li3, Daniel Krokosz3, Yuying Su4, Hongli Yu3, Hongying Fan5

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport, Gdańsk, Poland. keqiang.li@awf.gda.pl.

<sup>2</sup> Division of Neuropsychology, Department of the Social Sciences, Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.

<sup>3</sup> Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport, Gdańsk, Poland.

<sup>4</sup> Physical Education College, Bohai University, Jinzhou, China.

<sup>5</sup> School of Psychology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China.
Conference/Journal: BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil
Date published: 2022 Jun 8
Other:
 Volume ID: 14   ,  Issue ID: 1   ,  Pages: 102   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1186/s13102-022-00493-3.   ,  Word Count: 333  
    Background:

This study aimed to examine the effect of Baduanjin exercise on COVID-19-related anxiety, psychological well-being, and the lower back pain of college students during the coronavirus pandemic in China.



Setting:

The study was carried out in a temporary experimental center of four universities in Wenzhou city in Zhejiang Province, China.



Population:

387 participants who were college students were allocated to two groups: the Baduanjin exercise group(BEG, n = 195); and the Control group(CG,n = 192).



Methods:

In this randomized controlled trial,387 participants who were college students were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to 12-week Baduanjin exercise group (BEG, n = 195)and 12-week Control group(CG,n = 192).CAS(Coronavirus Anxiety Scale), PWBS(Psychological Well-being Scale),NMQ( Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire), was used to assess COVID-19-related anxiety, psychological well-being, and lower back pain at second times ( before and after the intervention). The paired t-test and an independent t-test (with a 95% confidence interval) was used to compare the outcome variables of the two groups.



Results:

Within-group comparison, there was no significant difference in the control group before and after the intervention. In contrast, the Baduanjin group had a significant improvement before and after the intervention. Between-group comparison, the Baduanjin group had a significant difference from the control group. The intervention effect on the Baduanjin exercise group was remarkably better than that of the control group (p < 0.05). Participants in the Baduanjin group significantly improved the corvid-19-related anxiety score decreased from ( 5.22 ± 0.45 to 5.07 ± 0.27, p < 0.05). The total psychological well-being score increased from (70.11 ± 8.65 to 84.12 ± 7.38,p < 0.05) and the prevalence of low back pain decreased from (22.45 ± 1.67 to 18.35 ± 1.05, p < 0.05) among college students.



Conclusion:

During the pandemic, the Baduanjin exercise contributes to the reduction of the perceived anxiety related to COVID-19, decreases the prevalence of the lower back pain, and improves the psychological well-being of college students.



Trial registration:

Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04432038. Registered on June 16, 2020.



Keywords: Baduanjin exercise; COVID-19-related anxiety; College student; Mental health; Pandemic; Qigong; The prevalence of low back pain.



PMID: 35676708 PMCID: PMC9174633 DOI: 10.1186/s13102-022-00493-3