Complementary therapies in clinical practice
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Complement Ther Clin Pract · Aug 2017
Review Meta AnalysisCupping therapy for treating knee osteoarthritis: The evidence from systematic review and meta-analysis.
Cupping therapy is widely used in East Asia, the Middle East, or Central and North Europe to manage the symptom of knee osteoarthritis (KOA). The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the available evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of cupping therapy for treating patients with KOA. ⋯ Only weak evidence can support the hypothesis that cupping therapy can effectively improve the treatment efficacy and physical function in patients with KOA.
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Complement Ther Clin Pract · May 2017
Review Meta AnalysisThe effectiveness of acupuncture, acupressure and chiropractic interventions on treatment of chronic nonspecific low back pain in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common health problems in adults. The impact of LBP on the individual can cause loss of health status and function related to pain in the back. To reduce the impact of LBP on adults, drug therapy is the most frequently recommended intervention. But over the last decade, a substantial number of randomized clinical trials of non-pharmacological intervention for LBP have been published. ⋯ This systematic review demonstrates that acupuncture, acupressure and chiropractic may have a favorable effect on self-reported pain and functional limitations on NSCLBP. However, the results should be interpreted in the context of the limitations identified, particularly in relation to the heterogeneity in the study characteristics and the low methodological quality in many of the included studies.
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Complement Ther Clin Pract · May 2015
Review Meta AnalysisAuricular therapy for chronic pain management in adults: A synthesis of evidence.
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of auricular therapy (AT) on chronic pain. ⋯ AT may positively control pain intensity for patients with chronic pain. However, due to the significant heterogeneity and methodological flaws identified in the analyzed trials, the current evidence on AT for chronic pain management is still uncertain. More rigorously designed large-scale randomized controlled trials are required to evaluate the efficacy of AT for patients with chronic pain.