Acupuncture Times Your guide to acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and TCM — explore acupoints, herbs and formulas, plus the latest acupuncture research news.
Related Articles
Lumbar disc herniation is a common cause of lower back and leg pain, often leading to reduced mobility and quality of life. Tuina (Chinese therapeutic massage) and spinal traction are both used in clinical practice for lumbar disc herniation, and practitioners sometimes combine the two approaches, though the evidence base for this combination has not been comprehensively pooled until now.
Researchers conducted a meta-analysis drawing on studies published between January 2020 and December 2024 from seven Chinese and international databases. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. Pooled results were calculated using fixed- or random-effects models depending on the degree of heterogeneity detected, and sensitivity analyses were run to check the stability of findings.
Across the included studies, tuina combined with traction showed statistically significant improvements compared with control interventions on several measures: lumbar function (Japanese Orthopaedic Association scores), pain intensity (Visual Analogue Scale scores), disability (Oswestry Disability Index scores), and lumbar posterior extension. No significant difference was detected for forward bending motion. Sensitivity analyses supported the robustness of most pooled estimates. However, funnel plots indicated potential publication bias, which is an important limitation, as is the relatively small number of included studies.
Conclusion: This meta-analysis provides cautiously encouraging evidence that combining tuina with lumbar traction may improve function and reduce pain in patients with lumbar disc herniation, though publication bias and a limited evidence base mean results should be interpreted with care.
Source: Zhao B, Zhao Q, Yin J and colleagues. Frontiers in Medicine (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 41907228) · doi:10.1002/adhm.202403315
