• Ruo-Xiang Zheng, Jia-Wei Xu, Bi-Yao Jiang, Wei Tang, Chun-Li Lu, Xiao-Yang Hu, and Jian-Ping Liu.
• Center for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
• Pain Manag Nurs. 2023 Apr 1; 24 (2): 157170157-170.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the effectiveness and safety of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) mind-body therapies in patients with neuropathic pain.DesignThis systematic review was undertaken according to the PRISMA 2020 statement.Data SourcesWe searched randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in seven English databases and four Chinese databases up to March 2022.Review/Analysis MethodsThe Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 was used for the quality assessment, and the mean difference with a 95% confidence interval for data pooling. The review was registered in the INPLASY (INPLASY202240016).ResultsTwenty-three RCTs were identified, including 1,693 patients with lumbar herniated discs (LHD), cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR), sympathetic cervical spondylosis (SCS), trigeminal neuralgia, and central poststroke pain. Pooled results showed that for LHD, TCM mind-body therapy used alone (MD: -0.57, [-0.77, -0.36], P＜0.01, week 8) or combined with physiotherapy (MD: -1.02, [-1.12, -0.91], P＜0.01, week 4) showed advantages over physiotherapy alone on pain relief. However, there was no statistical difference on physical function. For CSR, TCM mind-body movement combined with physiotherapy had better effect than physiotherapy alone on pain relief (MD: -1.15, [-1.37, -0.94], P＜0.01, week 4). Six trials reported safety. Nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and pain at the acupuncture point were observed.ConclusionsLow-quality evidence showed that TCM mind-body therapies might reduce pain intensity and improve physical function when used as an adjuvant therapy or monotherapy. There is a need to conduct high-quality trials to confirm the effectiveness and safety of TCM mind-body therapies for neuropathic pain.Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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