Massage therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

<h4>Background</h4>Although some studies evaluated the effectiveness of massage therapy for fibromyalgia (FM), the role of massage therapy in the management of FM remained controversial.<h4>Objective</h4>The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the evidence of mas...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yan-hui Li, Feng-yun Wang, Chun-qing Feng, Xia-feng Yang, Yi-hua Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089304&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850189860196843520
author Yan-hui Li
Feng-yun Wang
Chun-qing Feng
Xia-feng Yang
Yi-hua Sun
author_facet Yan-hui Li
Feng-yun Wang
Chun-qing Feng
Xia-feng Yang
Yi-hua Sun
author_sort Yan-hui Li
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Although some studies evaluated the effectiveness of massage therapy for fibromyalgia (FM), the role of massage therapy in the management of FM remained controversial.<h4>Objective</h4>The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the evidence of massage therapy for patients with FM.<h4>Methods</h4>Electronic databases (up to June 2013) were searched to identify relevant studies. The main outcome measures were pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance. Two reviewers independently abstracted data and appraised risk of bias. The risk of bias of eligible studies was assessed based on Cochrane tools. Standardised mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by more conservative random-effects model. And heterogeneity was assessed based on the I(2) statistic.<h4>Results</h4>Nine randomized controlled trials involving 404 patients met the inclusion criteria. The meta-analyses showed that massage therapy with duration ≥ 5 weeks significantly improved pain (SMD, 0.62; 95% CI 0.05 to 1.20; p = 0.03), anxiety (SMD, 0.44; 95% CI 0.09 to 0.78; p = 0.01), and depression (SMD, 0.49; 95% CI 0.15 to 0.84; p = 0.005) in patients with FM, but not on sleep disturbance (SMD, 0.19; 95% CI -0.38 to 0.75; p = 0.52).<h4>Conclusion</h4>Massage therapy with duration ≥ 5 weeks had beneficial immediate effects on improving pain, anxiety, and depression in patients with FM. Massage therapy should be one of the viable complementary and alternative treatments for FM. However, given fewer eligible studies in subgroup meta-analyses and no evidence on follow-up effects, large-scale randomized controlled trials with long follow-up are warrant to confirm the current findings.
format Article
id doaj-art-18c9aa7a3e7b4acca70491a53566e90e
institution OA Journals
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2014-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-18c9aa7a3e7b4acca70491a53566e90e2025-08-20T02:15:29ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0192e8930410.1371/journal.pone.0089304Massage therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Yan-hui LiFeng-yun WangChun-qing FengXia-feng YangYi-hua Sun<h4>Background</h4>Although some studies evaluated the effectiveness of massage therapy for fibromyalgia (FM), the role of massage therapy in the management of FM remained controversial.<h4>Objective</h4>The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the evidence of massage therapy for patients with FM.<h4>Methods</h4>Electronic databases (up to June 2013) were searched to identify relevant studies. The main outcome measures were pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance. Two reviewers independently abstracted data and appraised risk of bias. The risk of bias of eligible studies was assessed based on Cochrane tools. Standardised mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by more conservative random-effects model. And heterogeneity was assessed based on the I(2) statistic.<h4>Results</h4>Nine randomized controlled trials involving 404 patients met the inclusion criteria. The meta-analyses showed that massage therapy with duration ≥ 5 weeks significantly improved pain (SMD, 0.62; 95% CI 0.05 to 1.20; p = 0.03), anxiety (SMD, 0.44; 95% CI 0.09 to 0.78; p = 0.01), and depression (SMD, 0.49; 95% CI 0.15 to 0.84; p = 0.005) in patients with FM, but not on sleep disturbance (SMD, 0.19; 95% CI -0.38 to 0.75; p = 0.52).<h4>Conclusion</h4>Massage therapy with duration ≥ 5 weeks had beneficial immediate effects on improving pain, anxiety, and depression in patients with FM. Massage therapy should be one of the viable complementary and alternative treatments for FM. However, given fewer eligible studies in subgroup meta-analyses and no evidence on follow-up effects, large-scale randomized controlled trials with long follow-up are warrant to confirm the current findings.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089304&type=printable
spellingShingle Yan-hui Li
Feng-yun Wang
Chun-qing Feng
Xia-feng Yang
Yi-hua Sun
Massage therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
PLoS ONE
title Massage therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
title_full Massage therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
title_fullStr Massage therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
title_full_unstemmed Massage therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
title_short Massage therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
title_sort massage therapy for fibromyalgia a systematic review and meta analysis of randomized controlled trials
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089304&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT yanhuili massagetherapyforfibromyalgiaasystematicreviewandmetaanalysisofrandomizedcontrolledtrials
AT fengyunwang massagetherapyforfibromyalgiaasystematicreviewandmetaanalysisofrandomizedcontrolledtrials
AT chunqingfeng massagetherapyforfibromyalgiaasystematicreviewandmetaanalysisofrandomizedcontrolledtrials
AT xiafengyang massagetherapyforfibromyalgiaasystematicreviewandmetaanalysisofrandomizedcontrolledtrials
AT yihuasun massagetherapyforfibromyalgiaasystematicreviewandmetaanalysisofrandomizedcontrolledtrials