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Clinical Rehabilitation Mar 2015To establish the effects of relaxation therapy on autonomic function, pain, fatigue and daily functioning in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
To establish the effects of relaxation therapy on autonomic function, pain, fatigue and daily functioning in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia.
METHOD
A systematic literature study was performed. Using specific keywords related to fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome and relaxation therapy, the electronic databases PubMed and Web of Science were searched. Included articles were assessed for their risk of bias and relevant information regarding relaxation was extracted. The review was conducted and reported according to the PRISMA-statement.
RESULTS
Thirteen randomized clinical trials of sufficient quality were included, resulting in a total of 650 fibromyalgia patients (11 studies) and 88 chronic fatigue syndrome patients (3 studies). None of the studies reported effects on autonomic function. Six studies reported the effect of guided imagery on pain and daily functioning in fibromyalgia. The acute effect of a single session of guided imagery was studied in two studies and seems beneficial for pain relief. For other relaxation techniques (eg. muscle relaxation, autogenic training) no conclusive evidence was found for the effect on pain and functioning in fibromyalgia patients comparison to multimodal treatment programs. For fatigue a multimodal approach seemed better than relaxation, as shown in the sole three studies on chronic fatigue syndrome patients.
CONCLUSION
There is moderate evidence for the acute effect of guided imagery on pain, although the content of the visualization is a matter of debate. Other relaxation formats and the effects on functionality and autonomic function require further study.
Topics: Activities of Daily Living; Adult; Autonomic Nervous System; Databases, Bibliographic; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic; Female; Fibromyalgia; Humans; Imagery, Psychotherapy; Male; Middle Aged; Pain Management; Relaxation Therapy; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 25200878
DOI: 10.1177/0269215514542635 -
Clinical Rehabilitation Jul 2022To establish the effectiveness of relaxation and related therapies in treating Multiple Sclerosis related symptoms and sequelae.
OBJECTIVE
To establish the effectiveness of relaxation and related therapies in treating Multiple Sclerosis related symptoms and sequelae.
DATA SOURCES
PsycINFO, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global databases were searched.
METHODS
We included studies from database inception until 31 December 2021 involving adult participants diagnosed with multiple sclerosis or disseminated sclerosis, which featured quantitative data regarding the impact of relaxation interventions on multiple sclerosis-related symptoms and sequelae. Studies which examined multi-modal therapies - relaxation delivered in combination with non-relaxation interventions - were excluded. Risk of bias was assessed using the Revised Risk of Bias tool for randomised trials - ROB2, Risk of Bias in Non-Randomised Studies of Interventions ROBINS-I), and within and between-group effects were calculated (Hedges' ).
RESULTS
Twenty-eight studies met inclusion criteria. Twenty-three of these were randomised controlled trials, with 1246 total participants. This review reports on this data, with non-randomised study data reported in supplemental material. Post -intervention relaxation was associated with medium to large effect-size improvement for depression, anxiety, stress and fatigue. The effects of relaxation were superior to wait-list or no treatment control conditions; however, comparisons with established psychological or physical therapies were mixed. Individual studies reported sustained effects (≤ 6 months) with relaxation for stress, pain and quality of life. Most studies were rated as having a high/serious risk of bias.
CONCLUSION
There is emerging evidence that relaxation therapies can improve outcomes for persons with multiple sclerosis. Given the high risk of bias found for included studies, stronger conclusions cannot be drawn.
Topics: Adult; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Humans; Multiple Sclerosis; Quality of Life; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Relaxation Therapy
PubMed: 35410503
DOI: 10.1177/02692155221091509 -
Supportive Care in Cancer : Official... Sep 2020Previous systematic review suggested a beneficial effect of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. However, poor quality of...
Progressive muscle relaxation is effective in preventing and alleviating of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting among cancer patients: a systematic review of six randomized controlled trials.
PURPOSE
Previous systematic review suggested a beneficial effect of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. However, poor quality of eligible studies which included in previous systematic review impaired the reliability and validity of findings. The aim of the present systematic review was to further assess the value of PMR in chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
METHODS
We assigned two independent investigators to search potential studies in PubMed, Cochrane Controlled Register of Trial (CENTRAL), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), China Biomedical Literature database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang Data database. We used data extraction sheet to extract essential information, and used the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool to appraise the quality of eligible studies. Finally, we qualitatively summarized the results of all included studies.
RESULTS
Six studies enrolling 288 patients were included finally. Of these 6 studies, three were labeled as moderate quality and the remaining studies were low quality. All included studies consistently suggested that PMR has a positive effect on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, especially on the incidence, frequency, and degree of delayed nausea and vomiting.
CONCLUSION
Independent studies indicated that PMR was a beneficial approach of preventing and alleviating chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting among cancer patients. However, further studies enrolling other types of primary tumors should be designed in order to increase the generality of PMR because studies which were included in the present systematic review mainly considered patients with lung cancer and breast cancer. Moreover, future studies with high quality and large-scale are also warranted in order to address the limitations in the present systematic review such as poor quality and limited data of eligible studies.
Topics: Autogenic Training; Humans; Nausea; Neoplasms; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Reproducibility of Results; Vomiting
PubMed: 32346796
DOI: 10.1007/s00520-020-05481-2 -
Explore (New York, N.Y.) 2018Previous systematic reviews indicate that progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) and guided imagery (GI) are both effective interventions to decrease the psychological... (Review)
Review
Investigating the Effects of the Progressive Muscle Relaxation-Guided Imagery Combination on Patients with Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy Treatment: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.
BACKGROUND
Previous systematic reviews indicate that progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) and guided imagery (GI) are both effective interventions to decrease the psychological impact and to alleviate the adverse events in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment. To date, no review studies have investigated the effectiveness of a combination of PMR and GI.
AIM
To systematically review the current state of knowledge regarding the effects of the PMR-GI combination on cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
METHODS
A search for relevant records was carried out in four electronic databases (AMED, Cochrane Library, Pubmed and Scopus). After removing the duplicates 342 publications were screened and 71 were considered as potentially relevant. The flow of information of this study was in line with the PRISMA statement. Original articles investigating the application of both PMR and GI through a randomized trial on patients receiving chemotherapy were included. Those using PMR or GI alone and those combining other techniques together with PMR and GI were excluded. The trials' quality was assessed using the Jadad Scale.
RESULTS
Eight papers reporting the results of seven independent trials were finally included. All of them included only breast cancer patients, apart from a single trial using a mixed sample of breast and prostate cancer patients. Seven of the included trials reported beneficial effects on mental state (mood, anxiety, and depression) and on toxicity (nausea and vomiting). Three trials reported an effect on biomarkers (heart rate, blood pressure, cortisol, and immunity). Four trials scored three of five points on the Jadad Scale, two trials scored two points and a single trial scored zero.
CONCLUSIONS
Independent trials indicate that the PMR-GI combination is an effective way to tackle the impact of nausea and vomiting and to improve patients' mental state. However, studies involving other types of primary tumors would be useful because seven of the eight clinical trials only included breast cancer patients. Future research on the identification of potential effects on disease-related parameters (e.g., cytokines and disease-recurrence) and on patient survival is highly needed.
Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Autogenic Training; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; Female; Humans; Imagery, Psychotherapy; Male; Neoplasms; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
PubMed: 29506956
DOI: 10.1016/j.explore.2017.10.008 -
BMC Complementary and Alternative... Jun 2019Mind-body practices are frequently used by people living with HIV to reduce symptoms and improve wellbeing. These include Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga, meditation, and all...
BACKGROUND
Mind-body practices are frequently used by people living with HIV to reduce symptoms and improve wellbeing. These include Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga, meditation, and all types of relaxation. Although there is substantial research on the efficacy of mind-body practices in people living with HIV, there is no summary of the available evidence on these practices. The aim of this scoping review is to map available evidence of mind-body practices in people living with HIV.
METHODS
The Arksey and O'Malley (Int J Soc Res Methodol 8:19-32, 2005) methodological framework was used. A search of 16 peer-review and grey literature databases, websites, and relevant journals (1983-2015) was conducted. To identify relevant studies, two reviewers independently applied the inclusion criteria to all abstracts or full articles. Inclusion criteria were: participants were people living with HIV; the intervention was any mind-body practice; and the study design was any research study evaluating one or several of these practices. Data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed by one reviewer and checked by a second, as needed, using the criteria that Cochrane Collaboration recommends for systematic reviews of interventions (Higgins and Green, Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of intervention. 2011). A tabular and narrative synthesis was carried out for each mind-body practice.
RESULTS
One hundred thirty-six documents drawing on 84 studies met the inclusion criteria. The most widely studied mind-body practice was a combination of least three relaxation techniques (n = 20), followed in declining order by meditation (n = 17), progressive muscle relaxation (n = 10), yoga (n = 9) and hypnosis (n = 8). Slightly over half (47/84) of studies used a RCT design. The interventions were mainly (46/84) conducted in groups and most (51/84) included daily individual home practice. All but two studies were unblinded to participants.
CONCLUSION
The amount of available research on mind-body practices varies by practice. Almost half of the studies in this review were at high risk of bias. However, mindfulness, a combination of least three relaxation techniques and cognitive behavioral strategies, and yoga show encouraging results in decreasing physical and psychological symptoms and improving quality of life and health in people living with HIV. More rigorous studies are necessary to confirm the results of Tai Chi, Qigong, and some relaxation techniques.
Topics: HIV Infections; Humans; Mind-Body Therapies
PubMed: 31185970
DOI: 10.1186/s12906-019-2502-z