Tuina for osteoporosis: A systematic review protocol.

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is one kind of commonly and frequently occurring global disease accompanying with serious complications. As a branch of the subject of Acupuncture-Tuina, tuina is widely applied for osteoporosis alone or combined with other methods in China and other nations while its effective evidence is not clear. Hence, this systematic review protocol purpose is to evaluate the value of its efficacy and safety for osteoporosis.

METHODS: This systematic review and meta-analysis will be performed by means of electronic databases including Cochrane Library, Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EBASE, Springer, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP) and others with valid search strategy probably. The assessment of bias risk, data synthesis, subgroup analysis, and meta-analyses will be conducted using RevMan V.5.3.5 software.

RESULTS: This systematic review will present a high-quality evidence for clinicians and might be the first to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tuina for osteoporosis including alleviation of pain, adverse event, spinal motor function improvement as well as improvement of self-care ability and daily living.

CONCLUSION: This protocol will determine whether or not tuina is an effective and safety intervention for osteoporosis.