Choice of Outcomes Used in Randomized Controlled Trials Measuring the Efficacy and Safety of Massage Therapy for Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy

• Published in: Zhongguo quanke yixue Vol. 25; no. 20; pp. 2525 - 2533
• Main Author: Tianxiao FENG, Kangjian LI, Dawei YU, Wanyu SUN, Bifeng FU, Minshan FENG, Ping WANG
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese
• Published: Chinese General Practice Publishing House Co., Ltd 01.07.2022
• Subjects: cervical spondylosis|bone setting manipulation|cervical spondylotic radiculopathy|randomized controlled trial|patient reported outcome measures|the core outcome set
• ISSN: 1007-9572
• DOI: 10.12114/j.issn.1007-9572.2022.0001

Background Massage is an important treatment for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) . As massage-related research advances, numerous randomized controlled trials (RCT) concerning massage therapy in CSR have been published, but high-quality evidence is still limited due to some problems in the choice of outcomes. Objective To evaluate the outcomes used in RCTs in recent 10 years regarding CSR treated using massage, providing a basis for the choice of core outcomes used in studies about massage in CSR. Methods RCTs regarding CSR treated using massage were searched in databases of CNKI, Wanfang Data, CQVIP, SinoMed, PubMed, EMBase and Cochrane Library from January 2011 to May 2021. Literature screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were performed by two researchers separately. A qualitative analysis was conducted to analyze the outcomes used in the RCTs. Results In all, 66 RCTs were included, in which the outcomes were categorized into 7 categories based on functional attributes: quality of