Tuina-Focused Integrative Chinese Medical Therapies for Inpatients with Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

الملخص EN

Objective.

To evaluate the effectiveness of Tuina-focused integrative Chinese medical therapies (TICMT) on inpatients with low back pain (LBP).

Methods.

6 English and Chinese databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of TICMT for in-patients with LBP.

The methodological quality of the included RCTs was assessed based on PEDro scale.

And the meta-analyses of TICMT for LBP on pain and functional status were conducted.

Results.

20 RCTs were included.

The methodological quality of the included RCTs was poor.

The meta-analyses' results showed that TICMT had statistically significant effects on pain and functional status, especially Tuina plus Chinese herbal medicine (standardised mean difference, SMD: 1.17; 95% CI 0.75 to 1.60 on pain; SMD: 1.31; 95% CI 0.49 to 2.14 on functional status) and Tuina plus acupuncture (SMD: 0.94; 95% CI 0.38 to 1.50 on pain; SMD: 0.53; 95% CI 0.21 to 0.85 on functional status).

But Tuina plus moxibustion or hot pack did not show significant improvements on pain.

And the long-term evidence of TICMT was far from sufficient.

Conclusions.

The preliminary evidence from current studies suggests that TICMT might be effective complementary and alternative treatments for in-patients with LBP.

However, the poor methodological quality of the included RCTs means that high-quality RCTs with long follow-up are warranted.