ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2014
Efficacy of massage therapy on pain and dysfunction in patients with neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Therapeutic Massage for Cancer Survivors: An Umbrella Review.Current oncology reports · 2026Pooled it
- Massage for neck pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Massage for Pain: An Evidence Map.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2019Pooled it
- Massage for low-back pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Trial
- Outcomes of a Remotely Delivered Complementary and Integrative Health Partnered Intervention to Improve Chronic Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Through Massage to the Brain-Neuronal and Neuroplastic Mechanisms of Massage Based on Various Neuroimaging Techniques (EEG, fMRI, and fNIRS).Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Baduanjin exercise with or without traditional Chinese tuina therapy for nonspecific chronic neck pain: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- An update on non-pharmacological interventions for pain relief.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Review
- Effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine combined with Chinese massage therapy for enhancing cervical function in cervical spondylosis: a meta-analysis.American journal of translational research · 2025Review
- Effect of a massage chair (BFM-M8040) on neck and shoulder pain in office workers: A randomized controlled clinical trial.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Manual Therapy Effects on Nonspecific Neck Pain Are Not Mediated by Mechanisms Related to Conditioned Pain Modulation: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Current Status of Research on Tuina for Analgesia: A Bibliometric and Visual Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
- Using AGREE II reporting checklist to evaluate the quality of Tuina clinical practice guidelines.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- The Effects of Massage Therapy on a Patient with Migraines and Cervical Spondylosis: a Case Report.International journal of therapeutic massage & bodywork · 2021Article
- Article
- Cervical Rotatory Manipulation Decreases Uniaxial Tensile Properties of Rabbit Atherosclerotic Internal Carotid Artery.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective. To systematically evaluate the evidence of whether massage therapy (MT) is effective for neck pain. Methods. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified through searches of 5 English and Chinese databases (to December 2012). The search terms included neck pain, neck disorders, cervical vertebrae, massage, manual therapy, Tuina, and random. In addition, we performed hand searches at the library of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Two reviewers independently abstracted data and assessed the methodological quality of RCTs by PEDro scale. And the meta-analyses of improvements on pain and neck-related function were conducted. Results. Fifteen RCTs met inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis showed that MT experienced better immediate effects on pain relief compared with inactive therapies (n = 153; standardised mean difference (SMD), 1.30; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.09 to 2.50; P = 0.03) and traditional Chinese medicine (n = 125; SMD, 0.73; 95% CI 0.13 to 1.33; P = 0.02). There was no valid evidence of MT on improving dysfunction. With regard to follow-up effects, there was not enough evidence of MT for neck pain. Conclusions. This systematic review found moderate evidence of MT on improving pain in patients with neck pain compared with inactive therapies and limited evidence compared with traditional Chinese medicine. There were no valid lines of evidence of MT on improving dysfunction. High quality RCTs are urgently needed to confirm these results and continue to compare MT with other active therapies for neck pain.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.