• Zhenrui Li, Jie Zhuang, Shiwen Zhang, Qingyi He, Rui Zhao, Tursen Alima, and Lei Fang.
• School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
• Pain Res Manag. 2021 Jan 1; 2021: 5584997.

BackgroundThe number of patients with musculoskeletal pain, which seriously affects people's quality of life, has increased. Traditional Chinese exercises are accepted and practiced to strengthen the body.ObjectiveThis study aims to explore the efficacy of traditional Chinese exercises for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain.MethodsA comprehensive search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to traditional Chinese exercises on patients with musculoskeletal pain was completed using PubMed, SinoMed, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang Med Online databases. All RCTs published until February 2021 were considered. Two researchers independently screened the literature according to the predesigned inclusion and exclusion criteria, and data was extracted and assessed for their risk of bias via the Cochrane collaboration tool. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan5.2 and Rx64 4.0.2 software.ResultsA total of 45 RCT studies with 3178 patients were included. Traditional Chinese exercises were able to effectively alleviate patients with musculoskeletal pain (MD = -1.54, 95% confidence interval (-1.88, -1.19), P < 0.01). Among them, the Yi Jin Jing exercise was superior to other exercises, while Wu Qin Xi showed no significant effects. Besides, traditional Chinese exercises had significant positive effects on the dysfunction and stiffness of the waist and knee joints. Traditional Chinese exercises could effectively relieve the clinical symptoms of patients with musculoskeletal pain. Particularly, the Yi Jin Jing exercise presented the most significant positive effect on pain reduction.Copyright © 2021 Zhenrui Li et al.

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