ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2017
Chuna (or Tuina) Manual Therapy for Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 2 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
34 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative efficacy of traditional non-pharmacological add-on treatments in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- The efficacy of manual therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of Shi's cervical manipulation versus diclofenac for patients with acute and subacute neck pain: a multicenter clinical randomized trial.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2025Trial
- Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Concomitant Treatment with Chuna Manual Therapy and Usual Care for Whiplash Injuries: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Cost-Effectiveness of Chuna Manual Therapy and Usual Care, Compared with Usual Care Only for People with Neck Pain following Traffic Accidents: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Chuna Manual Therapy vs Usual Care for Patients With Nonspecific Chronic Neck Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Thrust Versus Non-Thrust Chuna Manipulative Therapy for Low-Back Pain with Pelvic Deviation: A Multicenter Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Impact of Traditional Korean Medicine on Reducing Polypharmacy and Potentially Inappropriate Medications in Elderly Stroke Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2026Article
- Traditional Korean Medicine Services and Its Association with Knee Surgery and Opioid Use in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Nationwide Retrospective Study in Korea.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Review
- Non-Pharmacological and Pharmacological Treatments for Non-Acute Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Protocol for a Multicenter Pragmatic Trial.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- A comparative effectiveness study of usual care, simple Chuna manual therapy, and complex Chuna manual therapy for the treatment of pelvic biomechanical lesions in patients with non-acute low back pain: a protocol for multicenter, randomized controlled trial.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Article
- Cerebral Mechanism of Tuina on the Descending Pain Inhibitory System in Knee Osteoarthritis: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- The Effectiveness and Safety of Chuna Manual Therapy Adjuvant to Western Medicine in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Randomized, Single-Blind, Investigator-Initiated, Pilot Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Firefighters' medical use and Korean Medicine experience in Korea: A qualitative study protocol.PloS one · 2024Article
- Reliability Analysis of Vertebral Landmark Labelling on Lumbar Spine X-ray Images.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Protocol for the development of a reporting guideline for clinical trials with integrated Chinese and western medicine interventions: the CONSORT extension for ICWM.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo review the literature and systematically evaluate the effectiveness of Chuna (or Tuina) manual therapy (C[T]MT) on pain and function for musculoskeletal disorders.
methodsWe searched 15 English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean databases using relevant keywords. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of C(T)MT for musculoskeletal disorders were considered, and we limited analyses to studies with a low-risk bias for randomization and/or allocation concealment.
resultsSixty-six RCTs with 6,170 participants were included. One sham-controlled RCT showed that C(T)MT relieved pain more effectively than a sham control (SMD -3.09 [-3.59, -2.59]). For active-controlled RCTs, pooled meta-analysis showed that C(T)MT had statistically significant effects on pain reduction, especially compared to traction (
conclusionsThis systematic review suggests that C(T)MT is safe and effective for pain reduction and functional improvement for musculoskeletal diseases; however, the evidence for functional improvement was not as strong as for pain reduction. For future studies, high-quality RCTs such as sham-controlled studies with standardized interventions are needed to provide sufficient evidence on the effects of C(T)MT for musculoskeletal diseases. Protocol registration number is CRD42016038307 04/07/2016.
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.