Complementary therapies in medicine
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Complement Ther Med · Feb 2019
ReviewShould acupuncture, biofeedback, massage, Qi gong, relaxation therapy, device-guided breathing, yoga and tai chi be used to reduce blood pressure?: Recommendations based on high-quality systematic reviews.
This review aims to rate the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations in high-quality systematic reviews of non-drug therapies. Hypertensive patients who are resistant or non-adherent to antihypertensive drugs may be easier to manage if they choose alternative non-drug therapies for hypertension, based on this review. ⋯ Many non-drug therapies were excluded due to the low methodological quality of their systematic reviews, and only 14 therapies were evaluated in this review. As no patient-important outcomes were reviewed, surrogate outcomes were used to rate the strength of recommendations. This approach may cause a decrease in evidence quality according to GRADE, but we argue that this is appropriate in the context of this review.
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Complement Ther Med · Feb 2019
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyEfficacy of rhythmical massage in comparison to heart rate variability biofeedback in patients with dysmenorrhea-A randomized, controlled trial.
20-90% of all women suffer from dysmenorrhea. Standard therapy of primary dysmenorrhea (PD) are NSAIDs and oral contraceptives, effective but not without possible side effects. ⋯ Preliminary evidence suggests that rhythmical massage might improve pain intensity after 12 weeks compared to usual care.
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Complement Ther Med · Feb 2019
Randomized Controlled TrialA randomized placebo-controlled study of aromatherapy for the treatment of postoperative nausea and vomiting.
The purpose of this study was to compare the aromatherapy treatment effects on PONV patients using ginger, lavender and rose oils and a placebo. ⋯ The aromatherapy can be used as an alternative or complementary method for managing PONV. Specifically, the ginger and lavender essential oils were superior to the rose oil and pure water for the aromatherapy treatments. However, further studies with larger sample sizes are necessary to confirm these results.
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Complement Ther Med · Dec 2018
Meta AnalysisPediatric Tui Na for acute diarrhea in children under 5 years old: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.
To evaluate the benefits and harms of pediatric Tui Na as a non-pharmaceutical Chinese medicine therapy for acute diarrhea in children under 5 years of age. ⋯ This review shows pediatric Tui Na appears to be effective and safe in improving clinical cure rate and shortening diarrhea duration in childhood aged less than five years of age with acute diarrhea. However, rigorously designed well-reported RCTs are warranted to confirm the findings.
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Complement Ther Med · Dec 2018
Meta AnalysisStandardizing music characteristics for the management of pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials.
To evaluate if music characteristics like tempo, harmony, melody, instrumentation, volume, and pitch, as defined by musical theory, are described in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) evaluating the effects of music-listening on the quantified pain perception of adults, and if these characteristics influence music's overall therapeutic effect. ⋯ Results show that music without lyrics is effective for the management of pain. Due to insufficient data, no ideal music characteristics for the management of pain were identified suggesting that music, as an intervention, needs standardization through an objective language such as that of music theory.