Effectiveness and safety of Tai Chi for chronic pain of knee osteoarthritis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain (CP) has been a major area of interest in the field of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), further aggravating the dysthymia, stiffness, and dysfunction of KOA patients. As an important part of complementary and alternative medicine, Tai Chi has a positive effect on KOA patients. The systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Tai Chi for KOA patients with CP. METHODS: A systematic search will be performed in the following electronic databases for randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Tai Chi in treating chronic pain of knee osteoarthritis: the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, OVID-MEDLINE, and four Chinese databases (Wan Fang, CNKI, CBMdisc and VIP). Each database will be searched from inception to Dec. 2021. The process will include study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment and meta-analysis. RESULTS: This proposed study will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Tai Chi for KOA patients with CP. Improvement in pain and adverse effects of KOA will be included in our measure. CONCLUSIONS: This proposed systematic review and meta-analysis will evaluate the existing evidence on the effectiveness and safety of Tai Chi for KOA patients with CP. DISSEMINATION AND ETHICS: The results of this review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication. This review does not require ethical approval because all of the data used in this systematic review and meta-analysis have already been published. Furthermore, all of these data will be analyzed anonymously during the review process. INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY2021120020.

Effectiveness and safety of massage for chronic pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain (CP) is a common and debilitating symptom in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Massage has been supported as a non-pharmacological intervention for the individual symptom relief of CP. However, relevant evidence of using massage for CP in patients with KOA has been lacking. METHODS: A systematic search will be performed in the following electronic databases for randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of massage for CP of KOA: China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan Fang, PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library databases from their inception to December 2021. The entire process will include study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment and meta-analysis. RESULTS: This proposed study will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of massage for CP in patients with KOA. Changes in pain relief and adverse effect will be included in our outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review will provide evidence for assessing the credibility of massage for CP in patients with KOA. DISSEMINATION AND ETHICS: The results of this review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication. This review does not require ethical approval because all of the data used in this systematic review and meta-analysis have already been published. Furthermore, all of these data will be analyzed anonymously during the review process.

Effectiveness and safety of massage for athletic injuries: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Athletic injuries have been a major area of interest in the field of sports and clinical medicine. Implemented on people's skin, muscles, and joints as an important part of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), massage therapy has a positive effect on athletic injuries. This protocol is to provide the methods used to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of massage therapy for patients with athletic injuries. METHODS: A systematic search will be performed in the following electronic databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of massage therapy in treating athletic injuries: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE and four Chinese databases (CNKI, Wan Fang, CBMdisc and VIP). Each database will be searched from inception to July 2021. The entire process will include study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment and meta-analysis. RESULTS: A high-quality synthesis of current evidence of massage therapy for patients with athletic injuries will be provided. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review will provide evidence for assessing the credibility of massage therapy for patients with athletic injuries. DISSEMINATION AND ETHICS: The results of this review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication. This review does not require ethical approval because all the data used in this systematic review and meta-analysis have already been published. Furthermore, all of these data will be analyzed anonymously during the review process. INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY202170066.

Efficacy and safety of external application of Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of acute gouty arthritis: a systematic review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of external application of Traditional Chinese Medicine (EATCM) on acute gouty arthritis (AGA). METHODS: Six electronic data bases were retrieved from their inception to march 2017. 15 randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) were included. The quality of the literatures was assessed according to Cochrane review criteria by using RevMan5.3 software; and related data was counted using Stata14.0 software. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in C-reactiveprotein (CRP) between experimental intervention group and control group [(WMD = 1.093, 95% CI (－2.514, 4.701); P = 0.553)]. In terms of overall efficacy, the EATCM's treatment group was significantly superior to control group [(OR = 3.692; 95% CI (2.408, 5.661); P < 0.001)]. The EATCM was better than western medicine treatments or other interventions in reducing the adverse reactions [(OR = 0.135; 95% CI (0.067, 0.274); P < 0.001)]. All these funnel plots showed unlikelihood of publishing bias. But due to excessive heterogeneity, the statistical results of serum uric acid and visual analogue scale and CRP between the two groups became uncertain. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that EATCM may have greater overall efficacy with fewer adverse drug reactions, although the evidence is weak owing to the low methodological quality and the small number of the included trials.