Immediate effects of Tuina techniques on working-related musculoskeletal disorder of professional orchestra musicians / 中西医结合学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Musicians are a prone group to suffer from working-related musculoskeletal disorder (WRMD). Conventional solutions to control musculoskeletal pain include pharmacological treatment and rehabilitation programs but their efficiency is sometimes disappointing.</p><p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The aim of this research is to study the immediate effects of Tuina techniques on WRMD of professional orchestra musicians from the north of Portugal.</p><p><b>DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS</b>We performed a prospective, controlled, single-blinded, randomized study. Professional orchestra musicians with a diagnosis of WRMD were randomly distributed into the experimental group (n=39) and the control group (n=30). During an individual interview, Chinese diagnosis took place and treatment points were chosen. Real acupoints were treated by Tuina techniques into the experimental group and non-specific skin points were treated into the control group. Pain was measured by verbal numerical scale before and immediately after intervention.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After one treatment session, pain was reduced in 91.8% of the cases for the experimental group and 7.9% for the control group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Although results showed that Tuina techniques are effectively reducing WRMD in professional orchestra musicians of the north of Portugal, further investigations with stronger measurements, double-blinding designs and bigger simple sizes are needed.</p>