Appropriate and effective prevention and treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) has become a challenge faced by medical institutions. Clinical evidence shows that both the royal TCM-based tendon-regulation manipulation and joint mobilization are effective for KOA, but there are few comparative studies of them in KOA.
To compare the similarities and differences between the royal TCM-based tendon-regulation manipulation and joint mobilization in the treatment of KOA, promoting the normalization and standardization of manipulative medicine worldwide.
From October 2020 to June 2021, 67 KOA patients who met the requirements were recruited from the Massage Department of Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. They were randomly divided into royal TCM-based tendon-regulation manipulation (n=33) and joint mobilization (n=34) . The two groups of patients received 10 treatments for 4 weeks, 4 cases fell off midway, and 63 patients were finally included. A mixed method of quantitative and qualitative analysis was adopted. Quantitative data collected were pre- and post-treatment assessment of the clinical responses in two groups with Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) . Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured individual interviews conducted in the participants based on topics of the efficacies and assessment of the two treatments for KOA, and understanding of the massage therapy. The similarities and differences between the two treatments were compared, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Parallel comparison and joint display were used for integrative analysis of the mixed data.
Efficacy evaluation: there was no statistically significant difference in the total score of WOMAC between the two groups after 4 weeks of treatment (P>0.05) , the total scores of WOMAC in both groups were lower than those before treatment (P<0.05) . According to the interview, there were no significant differences in patient-assessed efficacies (positive, neutral or negative evaluation) between the two treatments. Besides that, patients' positive, neutral and negative perceptions of massage were basically the same before and after treatment, but after treatment, patients' perception of massage inclined to be positive. The results of quantitative analysis showed that the curative effect was not related to previous hospital treatment with massage therapy. The efficacy was also not related to the success of blinding. There was no significant correlation between the success of blinding and the type of treatment or previous massage treatment. Patients' perceptions of massage were not associated with the efficacy, and the type of treatment received by them. Manipulation evaluation: There were no significant differences in the two treatments assessed by patients in terms of strength, pain degree, manipulation characteristics, onset time of curative effect and number of times with the most obvious perceived curative effect after the first or fourth week of treatment.
Quantitative and qualitative studies show that both the royal TCM-based tendon-regulation manipulation and joint mobilization are safe and effective for KOA, and they have no significant differences in patient-assessed efficacy and manipulation skills, as well as patients' perceptions of them.
Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most prevalent chronic diseases around the world. Additionally, they contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. Tuina manipulation played a crucial role in treating musculoskeletal diseases from ancient times to the present. However, there are no systematic investigations on the efficacy characteristics of Tuina manipulation for alleviating musculoskeletal pain.
To objective of the study was to investigate the factors that have an influence on the effectiveness of Tuina manipulation in treating musculoskeletal pain.
In October 2021, we interviewed physicians from Beijing's Tuina Department using the purpose sampling method and the snowball sampling strategy. Interviews were carried out following a semi-structured format to determine the factors influencing Tuina manipulation for musculoskeletal pain. In accordance with the study's aims, the interview outline was drafted and discussed with the research group, and the interview was ended when saturation of information had been reached. To develop a theoretical model, the interview content is organized into text using three-level coding and rooted theory using the qualitative analysis software NVivo 11.
A total of 16 interviewees were interviewed effectively. The interviews were open coded to obtain 21 initial categories. And The 21 initial categories were summarized into five main categories: "health care providers" "patients" "medical environment" "regional divergence" and "advantages of disease" . In addition to selective coding, the factors of musculoskeletal pain are summarized as the intrinsic factors of "people" ( "health care provider" and "patients" ) , the external factors of "environment" ( "medical environment" and "regional divergence" ) , and the causative factors of "disease" ( "advantages of disease" ) . By combing these factors with Tuina manipulation, it becomes a tree-like model of influencing factors in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain.
The factors affecting the treatment of musculoskeletal pain by Tuina manipulation are composed of three factors: the internal factors of "people" , the external factors of "environment" and the causative factors of "diseases" . "Health care providers" constitute the most critical factors, as their diagnosis, treatment plan, and technical level significantly affect the final result of treatment. The patient's compliance is largely a secondary factor, while external factors indicate that good doctor-patient communication leads to success. From the causative factors of "disease" , it can be seen that Tuina has a more prominent effect in the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases.
Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is a popular treatment for cervical spondylosis, a common degenerative disease of the spine. It has proven to be effective in relieving the pain from cervical spondylosis, but the mechanism is not clear. The development of neuroimaging has made it possible to perform visualization analyses of the cerebral structure and function in patients with cervical spondylosis, made the theory of somatosensory cortical remodeling proposed from the central perspective a new hot spot in the research on pathogenesis of cervical spondylosis, and the exploration of different manipulation treatments for cervical spondylosis based on the central effect a new direction of research on OMT. We reviewed the latest advances in central analgesic mechanisms of OMT for cervical spondylosis, mainly involving modulating the activity of brain regions, changing the default mode network, and regulating sympathetic nerve function, and summarized that OMT may improve pain via the following paths: enhancing central gating and modulating sensory-motor integration processes, or enhancing the strength of connections between sensory cortex and prefrontal cortex (an important structure for performing executive functions) in the default mode network, accelerating local neural remodelling and weakening white matter fibre connections between negative memory and emotion-related areas, or modulating sympathetic function and restoring brain mechanisms in inhibiting pain and central sensitisation for analgesic effects. The brain regions, functional brain networks and various biomarkers and observable indicators related to pain activation summarised in this study provide directions for future research. Future applied and basic research is recommended to adopt a step-by-step design, pay attention to the diversity of the research population, use the multi-point observation technique to assess the mechanism of efficacy, and enrich the scientific essentials of OMT.
