Effects of seated lumbar rotation manipulation in treating degenerative lumbar instability: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Degenerative lumbar instability (DLI) is a common disease that causes low back pain (LBP) in clinic. It is difficult to completely recover from DLI, and it occurs repeatedly, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. The epidemiological survey showed that 20-30% of low back pain was related to lumbar instability. Increasing evidence shows that seated lumbar rotation manipulation can effectively improve the clinical symptoms of patients with low back pain. The primary aim of this clinical trial is to observe the intervention effect of seated lumbar rotation manipulation on DLI patients. METHOD/DESIGN: A total of 60 participants with DLI will be recruited and randomly allocated into the seated lumbar rotation manipulation group (the intervention group) or lumbar traction in supine position group (the control group) in this prospective, outcome assessor-blind, two-arm randomized controlled clinical trial. The treatment of the two groups lasted for 3 weeks, and the manipulation of the intervention group would be carried out once every other day, three times a week, a total of 9 times; the control group would be given lumbar traction once a day, five times a week, a total of 15 times. JOA (Japanese Orthopaedic Association) and VAS (Visual Analogue Scales) scores will be recorded as the primary outcomes before the treatment and at the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th, and 19th days after treatment and follow-up visit at the first, third, and sixth months. JOA efficacy evaluation standard will be used to evaluate the overall efficacy as the secondary outcomes. DISCUSSION: The results of this prospective, randomized controlled trial will provide a clinical evidence for the treatment of DLI with seated lumbar rotation manipulation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2000032017 . Registered on 18 April 2020, Prospective registration.

Evidence for acupotomology in the management of cervical radiculopathy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cervical radiculopathy (CR) describes compression or stimulation secondary to the cervical nerve root, 1 or 2 types of upper limb pain, and/or with neck. In clinical practice, both acupotomology and acupuncture are very widely and popular for the management of CR. So, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the efficacy, safety of acupotomology in the treatment of CR. METHODS: We will search the following databases from inception to the September 2019 : MEDLINE(PubMed), Web of Science(Thomson Reuters), Cochrane Library, Embase (Ovid, Elsevier), SinoMed, Clinical Trials. gov, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, and VIP database. We will apply no language restrictions. We will not use a randomized controlled trial filter in EMBASE, as the set of intervention terms will limit the results sufficiently. The randomised controlled trials of acupotomology versus acupuncture for CR; two independent researchers will use the bias risk tool provided by the Cochrane Collaboration to evaluate the quality of the literature using RevMan 5.3 software (Copenhagen, The Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration, 2014). RESULTS: This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide a synthesis of existing evidence-based medical evidence for acupotomology/ acupotomy/needle knife in the treatment of CR. CONCLUSION: The conclusions of this systematic review and meta-analysis will provide evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of acupotomology/ acupotomy/needle knife for CR and further guide clinical decision-making. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study is based on literature and therefore does not require ethical approval or patient consent. The study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020172274.

Acupotomy combined with massage for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) is a clinical syndrome of radial neck and shoulder pain. Both Massage and Acupotomy have been widely used in the treatment of CSR, in China and achieved satisfied efficacy. Therefore, the aim of this study is to systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy of acupotomy combined with massage in the treatment of CSR. METHODS: The following electronic databases will be searched: PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Cochrane Library, Embase, SinoMed, Clinical Trials. gov, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database, and VIP database. Two review authors independently search databases from their respective inception dates to September 2019 to identify potentially eligible studies. Cochrane Handbook 5.1 risk of bias assessment tool will be used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. The Review Manager 5.3 will be used for all statistical analysis of the final included study. RESULTS: The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis will provide a synthesis of existing evidences for the treatment of acupotomy combined with massage on CSR, especially in improving visual analog scale and symptom score. CONCLUSION: This study will summarize the current evidence of acupotomy combined with massage for the treatment of CSR. This study can further guide the promotion and clinical decisions. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval and patient consent are not required because this study is a literature-based study. This systematic review and meta-analysis will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020171825.

Baduanjin exercise for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) is one of the most common public health concerns in the world. Baduanjin is very widely and popularly practiced for the management of CSR. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the efficacy of Baduanjin exercise for patients with CSR. METHODS: The PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Clinical Trials.gov, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wan Fang database, and VIP databases were searched from inception to July 2019 to identify potentially eligible studies. The methodological quality of the included studies using the risk bias assessment tool of Cochrane. All statistical analysis are conducted with Revman 5.3. RESULTS: This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide a synthesis of existing evidences for the treatment of Baduanjin on CSR. CONCLUSION: The conclusions of this study will provide evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of Baduanjin for CSR, which can further guide the promotion and clinical decisions. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020149659.