Tui Na (or Tuina) Massage: A Minireview of Pertinent Literature, 1970-2017

Background: Tuina massage is a traditional method used effectively in the treatment of various ailments in China since ancient time, and currently it is used around the world.

Objective: This minireview aims to describe several aspects of Tuina massage an integral part of Traditional Chinese Medicine in order to fill up the knowledge gap concerning traditional practitioners in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: Electronic searches of databases using Boolean operators and keywords were conducted to retrieve data published in English and Chinese literature. Thousands of articles were identified and screened by two independent reviewers using exclusion and inclusion criteria, and 56 articles were finally included in this study.

Results: Tuina has a very rich history in Chinese culture since antiquity. With continuous advancements in research, training, regulation and clinical practice, Tuina massage became popular worldwide and now used either alone or in conjunction with other complementary and alternative medicine or conventional therapies in diverse diseases associated with pain and other symptoms with good outcome. Although Tuina has good safety profile with level of evidence (LOE) of I to III, well defined indications and contraindications, a variety of minor adverse effects together with some major complications including deaths have been reported in the literature. Besides continuous training of Tuina practitioners, Tuina massage practice needs regulatory measures and guidelines for avoiding complications and improving the clinical outcome of patients.

Conclusion: Evidently, Chinese Tuina massage supported by theory, mechanisms, procedure and included randomized clinical trials snapshots, systematic reviews and meta-analysis with LOE of I to III is reported to be effective in several conditions. Further, rigorous randomized controlled studies with active comparators including other traditional modality or conventional medications or placebo with intensified quality control measures are required to provide further robust evidence-based data to support its efficacy in chronic diseases associated with pain and disabilities.