Traditional Chinese Manual Therapy (Tuina) reshape the function of default mode network in patients with lumbar disc herniation.
Xiao-Min Chen, Ya Wen, Shao Chen, Xin Jin, Chen Liu, Wei Wang, Ning Kong, Dong-Ya Ling, Qin Huang, Jin-Er Chai, Xiao-Lei Zhao, Jie Li, Mao-Sheng Xu, Zhong Jiang, Hong-Gen Du
Frontiers in Neuroscience March 15, 2023 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1125677 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational case-control study with pre-post intervention comparison Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 55 |
| Population | Patients with lumbar disc herniation (n = 27) and healthy controls (n = 28) |
| Intervention | Tuina |
| Duration | Six Tuina sessions |
| Measures | regional homogeneity (ReHo), static functional connectivity (sFC), dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) |
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Keywords | Lumbar disc herniation Tuina Functional connectivity Resting-State FMRI Regional homogeneity |
| Key findings | Lumbar disc herniation patients showed decreased regional homogeneity in the left orbital part of the middle frontal gyrus and altered dynamic functional connectivity variance involving the left fusiform gyrus, left orbital inferior frontal gyrus, and left precuneus compared with healthy controls. After six Tuina sessions, regional homogeneity and dynamic connectivity values in patients resembled those of healthy controls, which the authors argue may reflect reshaping of default mode network function contributing to Tuina's analgesic effect. |
Abstract
Purpose: Investigating the changes of regional homogeneity (ReHo) values and both static and dynamic functional connectivity (FC) before and after Traditional Chinese Manual Therapy (Tuina) in patients with lumbar disk herniation (LDH) through resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI). Based on this, we observe the effect of Tuina on the above abnormal changes.
Methods: Patients with LDH (n = 27) and healthy controls (HCs) (n = 28) were recruited. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning was performed two times in LDH patients, before Tuina (time point 1, LDH-pre) and after the sixth Tuina (time point 2, LDH-pos). And for one time in HCs which received no intervention. The ReHo values were compared between LDH-pre and HCs. The significant clusters detected by ReHo analysis were selected as seeds to calculate static functional connectivity (sFC). We also applied the sliding-window to perform dynamic functional connectivity (dFC). To evaluate the Tuina effect, the mean ReHo and FC values (both static and dynamic) were extracted from significant clusters and compared between LDH and HCs.
Results: In comparison to HCs, LDH patients displayed decreased ReHo in the left orbital part middle frontal gyrus (LO-MFG). For sFC analysis, no significant difference was found. However, we found decreased dFC variance between LO-MFG and the left Fusiform, and increased dFC variance in the left orbital inferior frontal gyrus and left precuneus. Both ReHo and dFC values revealed after Tuina, the brain activities in LDH patients were similar to HCs.
Conclusion: The present study characterized the altered patterns of regional homogeneity in spontaneous brain activity and those of functional connectivity in patients with LDH. Tuina can reshape the function of the default mode network (DMN) in LDH patients, which may contribute to the analgesic effect of Tuina in LDH patients.
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on default mode network, most cited first.