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. 2022 Jun 21:14:921069.
doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.921069. eCollection 2022.

Are Mind-Body Exercise Beneficial for Treating Pain, Function, and Quality of Life in Middle-Aged and Old People With Chronic Pain? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Yu-Rong Wen  1   2 , Jian Shi  3   2 , Ya-Fei Wang  2 , Yang-Yang Lin  2 , Zheng-Yu Hu  3   2 , You-Tian Lin  2   4 , Xue-Qiang Wang  1   5 , Yu-Ling Wang  2
Affiliations

Are Mind-Body Exercise Beneficial for Treating Pain, Function, and Quality of Life in Middle-Aged and Old People With Chronic Pain? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Yu-Rong Wen et al. Front Aging Neurosci. .

Abstract

Background: Aging is a significant risk factor in chronic pain development with extensive disability and greater health care costs. Mind-body exercise (MBE) has been scientifically proven to affect the pain intensity and physical health.

Objectives: To assess the effects of MBE modes (Tai Chi, yoga, and qigong) for treating chronic pain among middle-aged and old people, compared with nonactive and active treatment, as well as function, quality of life, and adverse events.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, and Chinese Scientific Journals Full-Text Database (VIP) till March 2022. No restrictions were chartered within the year and language of publication. We included randomized controlled trials of MBE treatment in middle-aged and elderly people with chronic pain. The overall certainty of evidence was evaluated by using the GRADE approach.

Results: A total of 17 studies (n = 1,332) were included in this review. There was low-certainty evidence indicating that MBE had a moderate effect on reducing pain compared with the nonactive and active control group (standard mean difference (SMD): -0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.86 to -0.42, P < 0.001). Very-low-certainty evidence showed that the pooled SMD for the functional improvement was -0.75 (95% CI: -1.13 to -0.37, P < 0.001). Low-certainty evidence presented that no influence was observed in physical component summary (SMD: 0.23, 95% CI: -0.16 to 0.62, P = 0.24) and mental component summary (SMD: -0.01, 95% CI -0.39 to 0.36, P = 0.95).

Conclusion: Our results indicated that MBE was an effective treatment for reducing symptoms of middle-aged and elderly people with chronic pain compared with nonactive and active control groups. TC and qigong had obvious benefits for knee osteoarthritis in self-reported function, but the efficacy of chronic low back pain was uncertain. No significant benefit of MBE on quality of life in older adults with chronic pain was found. More high-quality RCTs should be conducted to explore the efficacy and mechanism of MBE on chronic pain in middle-aged and elderly people from various dimensions, such as affective and cognitive dimensions.

Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=316591, identifier CRD42022316591.

Keywords: chronic pain; meta-analysis; mind-body exercises; old people; systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study selection flowchart according to the PRISMA guidelines, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. RCT, randomized controlled trials.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot showing overall effect sizes (Hedges' g) of mind-body exercises on pain intensity within studies. These plots show the pooled standard mean difference (SMD) (large diamond shape) and I2 resulting from the meta-analysis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot showing overall effect sizes (Hedges' g) of mind-body exercises on self-reported function within studies. These plots show the pooled SMD (large diamond shape) and I2 resulting from the meta-analysis.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot showing overall effect sizes (Hedges' g) of mind-body exercises on physical component summary within studies. These plots show the pooled SMD (large diamond shape) and I2 resulting from the meta-analysis.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Forest plot showing overall effect sizes (Hedges' g) of mind-body exercises on mental component summary within studies. These plots show the pooled SMD (large diamond shape) and I2 resulting from the meta-analysis.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Risk of bias graph: review authors' judgments about each risk of bias item presented as percentages across all included studies.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Methodological quality summary: review authors' judgments about each methodological quality item for each included study.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Funnel plots with standard errors plotted against effect sizes for determining publication bias in chronic pain intensity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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