Research on clinical application of manual therapy to tumor-related adverse reactions

To analyze the clinical application of manual therapy (MT) to tumor-related adverse reactions via summarizing the researches at home and abroad, in order to provide more theoretical evidence for the clinical promotion of MT. We searched 7 Chinese and English databases, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Academic Journal Full-text Database (Wanfang), Chongqing VIP Database (CQVIP), PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Ovid and EBSCO. The publication date was between the establishment date of the database and December 31, 2020. We screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and then sorted and analyzed the selected information. A total of 46 papers were analyzed. Among them, most studies focused on the adverse reactions in breast cancer patients. MT interventions demonstrated the best efficacy for fatigue, followed by pain, depression and anxiety. In different MT interventions, Chinese massage (Tuina) was mainly adopted for fatigue, pain, anxiety, depression and limb dysfunctions. Acupoint pressing was mainly adopted for gastrointestinal and psychological problems such as abdominal bloating, insomnia, depression and anxiety. The application of reflexotherapy was similar to that of Chinese massage. MT can alleviate various types of adverse reactions by effectively relieving patients’ somatic symptoms and improving their psychological states and overall functions. It can be popularized as a significant non-drug therapy. At present, however, the clinical application of MT is neither extensive nor having sufficient basic research. Consequently, we should attach importance to this application.