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- Title
Use of Massage Therapy for Pain, 2018-2023: A Systematic Review.
- Authors
Mak, Selene; Allen, Jennifer; Begashaw, Meron; Miake-Lye, Isomi; Beroes-Severin, Jessica; De Vries, Gerardo; Lawson, Emily; Shekelle, Paul G.
- Abstract
This systematic review maps the certainty and quality of evidence reported by systematic reviews in 2018 to 2023 of massage therapy for pain in adults. Key Points: Question: What is the certainty or quality of evidence in recent systematic reviews for use of massage therapy for painful adult health conditions? Findings: This systematic review identified 129 systematic reviews in a search of the literature published since 2018; of these, 41 assessed the certainty or quality of evidence of their conclusions. Overall, 17 systematic reviews regarding 13 health conditions were mapped, and most reviews concluded that the certainty of evidence was low or very low. Meaning: This study found that despite massage therapy having been the subject of hundreds of randomized clinical trials and dozens of systematic reviews about adult health conditions since 2018, there were few conclusions that had greater than low certainty of evidence. Importance: Massage therapy is a popular treatment that has been advocated for dozens of painful adult health conditions and has a large evidence base. Objective: To map systematic reviews, conclusions, and certainty or quality of evidence for outcomes of massage therapy for painful adult health conditions. Evidence Review: In this systematic review, a computerized search was conducted of PubMed, the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, the Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Web of Science from 2018 to 2023. Included studies were systematic reviews of massage therapy for pain in adult health conditions that formally rated the certainty, quality, or strength of evidence for conclusions. Studies of sports massage therapy, osteopathy, dry cupping or dry needling, and internal massage therapy (eg, for pelvic floor pain) were ineligible, as were self-administered massage therapy techniques, such as foam rolling. Reviews were categorized as those with at least 1 conclusion rated as high-certainty evidence, at least 1 conclusion rated as moderate-certainty evidence, and all conclusions rated as low- or very low–certainty evidence; a full list of conclusions and certainty of evidence was collected. Findings: A total of 129 systematic reviews of massage therapy for painful adult health conditions were found; of these, 41 reviews used a formal method to rate certainty or quality of evidence of their conclusions and 17 reviews were mapped, covering 13 health conditions. Across these reviews, no conclusions were rated as high certainty of evidence. There were 7 conclusions that were rated as moderate-certainty evidence; all remaining conclusions were rated as low- or very low–certainty evidence. All conclusions rated as moderate certainty were that massage therapy had a beneficial associations with pain. Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that despite a large number of randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews of massage therapy for painful adult health conditions rated a minority of conclusions as moderate-certainty evidence and that conclusions with moderate- or high-certainty evidence that massage therapy was superior to other active therapies were rare.
- Subjects
AMED (Information retrieval system); RESEARCH funding; TREATMENT effectiveness; SYSTEMATIC reviews; MEDLINE; PAIN management; MEDICAL databases; PAIN; MASSAGE therapy; ONLINE information services; EVIDENCE-based medicine; STAINS &; staining (Microscopy); HEALTH outcome assessment; QUALITY assurance; ADVERSE health care events; ADULTS
- Publication
JAMA Network Open, 2024, Vol 7, Issue 7, pe2422259
- ISSN
2574-3805
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.22259