RECENT RESEARCH lactate clearance and agility compared to active recovery with massage therapy, highlighting the need for personalized recovery strategies due to individual variability in responses.
Narenthiran P, Granville Smith I, Williams FMK. Does the addition of manual therapy to exercise therapy improve pain and disability outcomes in chronic low back pain: A systematic review. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2025 Jun; 42:146-152. doi: 10.1016 / j. jbmt. 2024.12.004. Epub 2024 Dec 10. PMID: 40325660.
Background: Low back pain( LBP) is a common musculoskeletal problem and the leading cause of disability worldwide. Manual therapy and exercise therapy are used by physiotherapists to treat LBP. The evidence base for exercise is strong, however less so for manual therapy. We investigated whether manual therapy in addition to exercise provides improvements in pain and disability outcomes over exercise alone for LBP.
Methods: A PRISMA guided systematic review protocol was developed. PubMed, Ovid and Web of Science were searched for randomised controlled trials( RCTs) which compared manual therapy plus exercise with exercise alone for LBP patients. Participants consisted of adults and older adults suffering from chronic back pain for over three months, recruited by researchers following examination by a health professional. Exercise prescriptions consisted of strengthening, stretching and stabilisation exercises. Manual therapies included spinal manipulation, massage, soft tissue mobilisation, myofascial release and muscle energy technique. The main outcome measures were pain( VAS, The McGill Pain Questionnaire) and disability( ODI, Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale). Secondary outcome measures included quality of life, flexibility, strength, spinal mobility, satisfaction.
Results: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria: eight reported pain and / or disability improvements with the addition of manual therapy, two reported no benefit.
Conclusions: This systematic review found that manual therapy as an adjunct to exercise provides increased improvements in short-term pain, function and disability outcomes than exercise alone in the management of LBP. The addition of manual therapy is recommended for at least short-term pain and disability relief in LBP patients.
Liu D, Lin TY, Yu TY, Wu F, Zhang YQ, Liu JY, Sun JW, Zhang HY. Effectiveness and safety of Tuina massage therapy for paediatric fever: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMC Pediatr. 2025 May 1; 25( 1): 343. doi: 10.1186 / s12887-025- 05441-x. PMID: 40312678; PMCID: PMC12044972.
Objective: To systematically analyse the efficacy and safety of Tuina massage therapy for paediatric fever.
Methods and results: A search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases, and it retrieved relevant randomised controlled trials( RCTs) up to November 2023. Fifteen trials( 1,661 pediatric patients) were included, focusing on Tuina massage and tepid water massage. Studies were excluded due to: duplicate data, irrelevant types, incomplete outcomes and use of other interventions. The Cochrane RoB tool was employed to assess methodological quality, and the GRADE approach was used to evaluate the certainty of evidence. The review was registered with the International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols( INPLASY), registration number INPLASY202270041, following PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Massage treatment( 120 min) showed a nonsignificant difference( standardized mean difference [ SMD ]: 0.68; 95 % CI:- 0.31-1.67) compared with antipyretic medication. However, combining antipyretic medication and massage significantly reduced fever( SMD: 0.90; 95 % CI: 0.50-1.30). Subgroup analysis indicated traditional Chinese Tuina massage significantly reduced pediatric fever( relative risk [ RR ]: 0.41; 95 % CI: 0.26-0.65).
Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggests that traditional Chinese Tuina may be a promising adjunctive therapy for pediatric fever. Careful consideration of each child ' s specific conditions is necessary to ensure safety and comfort. Future research should enhance study design quality and broaden the scope of non-pharmacological treatment methods.
Kubasch J, Ortiz M, Binting S, Roll S, Icke K, Dietzel J, Nögel R, Hummelsberger J, Willich SN, Brinkhaus B, Teut M, Siewert J. Hydrotherapy and acupressure in restless legs syndrome: results of a randomized, controlled, three-armed, pilot study( HYDRAC-study). Front Med( Lausanne). 2025 Apr 16; 12:1571045. doi: 10.3389 / fmed. 2025.1571045. PMID: 40309736; PMCID: PMC12041014.
Study objectives: Non-pharmacological interventions for restless legs syndrome( RLS) are frequently used, although scientific evidence remains limited. The study aimed to investigate the feasibility and effects of self-applied hydrotherapy and self-applied acupressure in patients with RLS.
Methods: In a three-armed randomized single-center open exploratory pilot study, adults with moderate to severe RLS were randomly allocated to 6 weeks of daily hydrotherapy plus routine care( HT group), acupressure plus routine care( AP group), or routine care alone( RC group). Outcome measures included RLS symptom severity( IRLS), disease-specific quality of life( RLSQoL), the impression of change( PGI-C), health-related quality of life( SF-12), psychological outcomes( SGW-B, HADS, and GSE), and adherence and adverse events( AEs) after 6 and 12 weeks.
Results: Fifty-four adults( mean age 57.5 ± 11.4 years, 63 % women) were included. The study showed good feasibility with an 83 % retention rate. After 6 weeks, baseline-adjusted mean IRLS scores were 19.8( 95 % [ 16.4, 23.2 ]) for HT, 22.9( 19.2, 26.6) for AP, and 24.0( 20.8, 27.2) for RC. RLSQoL adjusted means were 65.3( 59.7, 70.9) for HT, 68.3( 62.3, 74.3) for AP, and 56.2( 50.9, 61.5) for RC, after 6 weeks. Both interventions were safe, with high adherence rates.
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