Virtual Tai Chi for Chronic Low Back Pain (Spine 2027)

Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18 years or older * Current non-specific low back pain lasting 12 weeks or more, with average pain over the past 7 days rated 4 or higher on a 0 to 10 scale * Understands written and spoken English * Has consistent internet access and is able to participate in virtual sessions * Agrees to appear on video during tai chi sessions, visible to the instructor and other participants * Willing to participate in a 12-month study including a 3-month foundation training phase with two 60-minute virtual live tai chi classes per week, 10 minutes of daily home practice, monthly 60-minute booster sessions during months 4 through 12, and five online surveys over 12 months at months 0, 2, 3, 6, and 12 * Willing and able to provide informed consent Exclusion Criteria: * Currently pregnant * Regular tai chi or qigong practice or research study participation in the past 5 years * History of spine surgery within the past 6 months * Severe psychiatric or medical comorbidities that, in the principal investigator's judgment, would make participation unsafe or not feasible Note on the second exclusion bullet: the protocol wording leaves open whether "research study participation" means participation in any research study or only in tai chi or qigong research. That wording has been carried over exactly as approved rather than clarified here, because the registry record should match the protocol. If the ambiguity is worth resolving, it belongs in a future amendment and then in a record update, not in this response.