STUDY PROTOCOL article
Front. Med.
Sec. Gastroenterology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1620346
Baduanjin exercise combined with moxibustion box for gastrointestinal dysfunction in the elderly: a protocol of prospective, randomized controlled trial
Provisionally accepted
Jing Zhu1
Dongxia Zhang2Lu Yang1Hong Liang1Qingyan Liu1Jinyan Liang1
Zunjiang Li1
Banghan Ding1*Danwen Zheng1*- 1The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, guangzhou, China
- 2The Second Clinical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
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Objective: To synthesize and compare the results of a controlled trial of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) nursing techniques, Baduanjin exercise (BDJE) combined with moxibustion box (MB) intervention measures, to improve gastrointestinal dysfunction (GID) in the elderly. Design: A prospective randomized controlled trial. Method: Participants were recruited from the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the conventional treatment group using a random number table generated by SAS software. The intervention measures included the use of BDJE plus MB for two weeks. The main outcome measures were the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) and clinical efficacy. Secondary outcome measures included bowel sounds, changes in abdominal circumference, frequency of bowel movements per day, and stool morphology. Measure the outcome before and 2 weeks after treatment. Discussion: Gastrointestinal dysfunction (GID) has a high incidence rate in severely ill patients and is associated with poor prognosis. Elderly patients with GID are affected by this disease, which reduces their quality of life and, subsequently, affects their mental health. The treatment of elderly patients with GID includes Western drug treatment (WDT) and traditional Chinese medicine. However, the therapeutic effect of WDT during enteral nutrition in critically ill patients is unsatisfactory. BDJE combined with MB in TCM nursing technology has the characteristics and advantages of simple operation, low price, convenience, and effectiveness, and is more easily accepted by patients. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the clinical efficacy of WDT and the combination of BDJE and MB in elderly patients with GID. Impact: This study provides evidence of the clinical efficacy of BDJE combined with MB in treating elderly patients with GID.Trial Registration: The study is registered at http://itmctr.ccebtcm.org.cn/ (ITMCTR2025000167).
Keywords: Baduanjin exercise, moxibustion box, Gastrointestinal dysfunction, elderly patients, protocol, rct
Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Zhang, Yang, Liang, Liu, Liang, Li, Ding and Zheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Banghan Ding, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, guangzhou, China
Danwen Zheng, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, guangzhou, China
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