To provide evidence for the existence of six myofascial meridians proposed by Myers (1997) based on anatomical dissection studies.
DATA SOURCES:
Relevant articles published between 1900 and December 2014 were searched in MEDLINE (Pubmed), ScienceDirect and Google Scholar.
STUDY SELECTION:
Peer-reviewed human anatomical dissection studies reporting morphological continuity between the muscular constituents of the examined meridians were included. If no study demonstrating a structural connection between two muscles was found, papers on general anatomy of the corresponding body region were targeted.
DATA EXTRACTION:
A continuity between two muscles was only documented if two independent investigators agreed that it was reported clearly. Also, two independent investigators rated methodological quality of included studies by means of a validated assessment tool (QUACS).
DATA SYNTHESIS:
The literature search identified 6589 articles. Of these, 62 papers met the inclusion criteria. The studies reviewed suggest strong evidence for the existence of three myofascial meridians: the superficial back line (all three transitions verified, based on 14 studies), the back functional line (all three transitions verified, 8 studies) and the front functional line (both transitions verified, 6 studies). Moderate to strong evidence is available for parts of the spiral line (five of nine verified transitions, 21 studies) and the lateral line (two of five verified transitions, 10 studies). No evidence exists for the superficial front line (no verified transition, 7 studies).
CONCLUSIONS:
The present systematic review suggests that most skeletal muscles of the human body are directly linked by connective tissue. Examining the functional relevance of these myofascialchains is the most urgent task of future research. Strain transmission along meridians would both open a new frontier for the understanding of referred pain and provide a rationale for the development of more holistic treatment approaches.
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The aim of this study was to verify the clinical responses to Thai massage (TM) and Thai herbal compression (THC) for treating osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee in comparison to oral ibuprofen. This study was a randomized, evaluator-blind, controlled trial. Sixty patients with OA of the knee were randomly assigned to receive either a one-hour session of TM or THC (three times weekly) or oral ibuprofen (three times daily). The duration of treatment was three weeks. The clinical assessments included visual analog scale assessing pain and stiffness, Lequesne’s functional index, time for climbing up ten steps, and physician’s and patient’s overall opinions on improvement. In a within-group comparison, each treatment modality caused a significant improvement of all variables determined for outcome assessments. In an among group comparison, all modalities provided nearly comparable clinical efficacy after a three-week symptomatic treatment of OA of the knee, in which a trend toward greatest improvement was likely to be found in THC group. In conclusion, TM and THC generally provided comparable clinical efficacy to oral ibuprofen after three weeks of treatment and could be considered as complementary and alternative treatments for OA of the knee.
1Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kean University, Thailand.
2Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
3Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
4Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kean University, Thailand. Electronic address: aparad@kku.ac.th.
Abstract
RATIONAL AND BACKGROUND:
TraditionalThai massage (TTM) is an alternative medicine treatment used for pain relief. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the research about the effects of TTM on pain intensity and other important outcomes in individuals with chronic pain.
METHODS:
We performed a systematic review of the controlled trials of the effects of TTM, using the keywords “TraditionalThai massage” or “Thai massage” with the keyword “Chronic pain.”
RESULTS:
Six research articles met the inclusion criteria. All of the studies found a pre- to post-treatment pain reductions, varying from 25% to 80% and was also associated with improvements in disability, perceived muscle tension, flexibility and anxiety.
SUMMARY:
The TTM benefits of pain reduction appear to maintain for up to 15 weeks. Additional research is needed to identify the moderators, mediators and to determine the long-term benefits of TTM relative to control conditions.
PubMed® is the premiere database for scientific and medical research, and is a service of the US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. As NIH: NLM Licensed providers, we syndicate publicly available abstracts from PubMed that are relevant to our readers. For full text, subscription to PubMed® is required.
Chatchawan U1, Eungpinichpong W1, Plandee P1, Yamauchi J1. 1Research Center in Back, Neck, Other Joint Pain and Human Performance (BNOJPH), Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
Abstract
BACKGROUND Peripheral neuropathy is the most common complications of diabetic patients and leads to loss of plantar cutaneous sensation, movement perception, and body balance. Thai foot massage is an alternative therapy to improve balance.
PubMed® is the premiere database for scientific and medical research, and is a service of the US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. As NIH: NLM Licensed providers, we syndicate publicly available abstracts from PubMed that are relevant to our readers. For full text, subscription to PubMed® is required.
