• Wen-Bin Jiang, Okoye Chukwuemeka Samuel, Zhe Li, Wei Chen, and Hong-Jin Sui.
• Department of Anatomy, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2023 Feb 3; 102 (5): e32744e32744.

BackgroundCraniosacral therapy (CST) has remained controversial in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. To our knowledge, there is no larger sample size of research to demonstrate the effectiveness of craniosacral therapy in the human suboccipital region on hamstring muscle.MethodsTo study whether the CST in the human suboccipital region could have a remote effect on the flexibility of the hamstring muscles, the Cochrane Library, Medline/Pubmed, CNKI, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched. Clinical trials assessing the effects of CST in short hamstring syndrome patients were eligible. Mean differences (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for the straight leg raise test (primary outcomes). The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. RevMan 5.3 software was used for data analysis.ResultsFive controlled trials with a total of 238 participants were included. CST could effectively relieve the symptoms of short hamstring syndrome patients [the overall MD -9.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) -15.82 to -3.12, P < .000001]. The CST was better than the proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation technique (MD 3.09, 95% CI 1.48-4.70, P = .0002). Sensitivity analysis shows that the frequency of treatment and who did the experiment might be the main sources of impact results.ConclusionCST could change the flexibility of the hamstring muscles. CST had a better curative effect when compared to proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation technique on the hamstring muscles.Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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