ArticleBrain and behavior2023
Tuina therapy promotes behavioral improvement and brain plasticity in rats with peripheral nerve injury and repair.
Article in Brain and behavior, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Acupuncture-Combined Tuina on Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2026Trial
- Traditional Chinese Manual Therapy (Tuina) relieves neuropathic pain by regulating neuroplasticity: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2026Article
- Massage Regulates Brain Plasticity in Chronic Sciatic Nerve Compression Injury Rats: A Study Based on Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Mechanosensitive Ion Channels and Neuroplasticity in Tuina Therapy: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications.Neural plasticity · 2026Review
- Tuina for chronic fatigue syndrome: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial integrating tryptophan metabolism, gut microbiota, and brain network alterations.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Tuina ameliorates sleep disturbances in PCPA-treated rats through Piezo1-mediated calcium signaling.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Chinese massage therapy (Tuina) inhibits motor neuron apoptosis in rats with sciatic nerve injury by regulating the cPLA2 and RhoA/ROCK2 signaling pathways.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Tuina combined with Riluzole in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: protocol for a randomized controlled trial with clinical outcomes and synaptic PET biomarkers.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Tuina alleviates the muscle atrophy induced by sciatic nerve injury in rats through regulation of PI3K/Akt signaling.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2024Article
- Advances in novel biomaterials combined with traditional Chinese medicine rehabilitation technology in treatment of peripheral nerve injury.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Review
- Tuina therapy promotes behavioral improvement and brain plasticity in rats with peripheral nerve injury and repair.Brain and behavior · 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
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionTuina is currently one of the popular complementary and alternative methods of rehabilitation therapy. Tuina can improve patients' pain and mobility function. However, the underlying physiological mechanism remains largely unknown, which might limit its further popularization in clinical practice. The aim of this study is to explore the short-term and long-term changes in brain functional activity following Tuina intervention for peripheral nerve injury repair.
methodsA total of 16 rats were equally divided into the intervention group and the control group. Rats in the intervention group received Tuina therapy applying on the gastrocnemius muscle of the right side for 4 months following sciatic nerve transection and immediate repair, while the control group received nerve transection and repair only. The block-design functional magnetic resonance imaging scan was applied in both groups at 1 and 4 months after the surgery. During the scan, both the injured and intact hindpaw was electrically stimulated according to a "boxcar" paradigm.
resultsWhen stimulating the intact hindpaw, the intervention group exhibited significantly lower activation in the somatosensory area, limbic/paralimbic areas, pain-regulation areas, and basal ganglia compared to the control group, with only the prefrontal area showing higher activation. After 4 months of sciatic nerve injury, the control group exhibited decreased motor cortex activity compared to the activity observed at 1 month, and the intervention group demonstrated stronger bilateral motor cortex activity compared to the control group.
conclusionTuina therapy on the gastrocnemius muscle of rats with sciatic nerve injury can effectively alleviate pain and maintain the motor function of the affected limb. In addition, Tuina therapy reduced the activation level of pain-related brain regions and inhibited the decreased activity of the motor cortex caused by nerve injury, reflecting the impact of peripheral stimulation on brain plasticity.
Indexed as
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.