Psychological effects of traditional Chinese mind-body exercises for low back pain: a protocol for meta-analysis

Introduction Several studies reported that traditional Chinese mind-body exercises showed beneficial effects on improving anxiety and depression of patients with low back pain (LBP) in recent years. However, the effects of traditional Chinese mind-body exercises on improving psychological disorders of patients with LBP remain controversial. Most previous reviews only focused on the effects of traditional Chinese mind-body exercises for LBP on pain and dysfunction. Therefore, the present systematic review and meta-analysis will be conducted to evaluate the evidence on psychological effects of traditional Chinese mind-body exercises for LBP. Methods and analysis The electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, and Wanfang Data) will be searched. The search will include all documents from their inception to February 2021. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale will be used for quality assessment of eligible studies. Risk of bias of eligible studies will also be assessed by Cochrane tool. The meta-analysis will be conducted using the Review Manager Version 5.3 software. The Higgins I2 statistic will be performed to examine for heterogeneity. The subgroup analysis will be conducted based on different types of traditional Chinese mind-body exercises, different intervention time, and different outcomes. Quality of evidence will be assessed using the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation. Ethics and dissemination No ethical statement will be required for the performance of this review and meta-analysis. The results of this review will be published in an international peer-reviewed journal. Inplasy registration number INPLASY202130075.