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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Applied Neuroimaging
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1399487
Changes of regional brain activity following Tuina therapy for patients with painful cervical spondylosis: a resting-state fMRI study Authors
Provisionally accepted- 1 Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
- 2 Jiangsu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
Background: The effectiveness of Tuina therapy has been confirmed in treating pain of patients with cervical spondylosis (CS), however, its therapeutic mechanism is still unclear. Methods: A total of 27 patients with CS and 27 healthy subjects (HCs) were enrolled in this study. All patients received Tuina therapy every two days for two weeks. The clinical manifestations of patients were evaluated by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Neck Disability Index (NDI) before and after treatment. In addition, rs-fMRI data were collected and preprocessed in all patients before and after treatment, as well as HCs. HCs underwent a 1-time rs-fMRI scan, whereas CS patients underwent 2-times of rs-fMRI scan. The measure of regional homogeneity (ReHo) was calculated and compared between groups. Finally, relationships between altered brain regions and clinical characteristics were evaluated by Pearson’s correlation analysis. Results: After Tuina therapy, VAS and NDI scores of patients decreased. Before treatment, CS patients showed higher ReHo values in the left middle temporal gyrus, left thalamus, right anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus, left inferior parietal gyrus and lower ReHo values in the right gyrus rectus when compared with HCs. After treatment, CS patients exhibited higher ReHo values in the left inferior temporal gyrus, right anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus, left inferior parietal gyrus and lower ReHo values in the right rectus gyrus when compared with HCs. CS patients after treatment demonstrated higher ReHo values in the left inferior occipital gyrus when compared with those before treatment. Positive correlations were found between ReHo values of the right rectus gyrus and VAS, NDI scores in CS patients before treatment. Differences of VAS scores between before and after treatment were negatively correlated with ReHo values of the left inferior temporal gyrus in CS patients after treatment. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the presence of asynchronous activity in certain brain regions in CS patients, which might be associated with pain and cervical spine dysfunction. Tuina therapy might modulate asynchronous activity of abnormal brain regions, which might contribute to the effectiveness of Tuina therapy in alleviating pain and cervical spine dysfunction in CS patients.
Keywords: cervical spondylosis, Pain, Tuina therapy, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, regional homogeneity
Received: 03 Apr 2024; Accepted: 26 Aug 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Song, Fang, Wan, Shen, Hu, Lu, Yue, Chen, Chen and Xue. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Shilong Song, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
Yun Fang, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
Xing Wan, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
Lili Shen, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
Yidan Hu, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
Chao Lu, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
Tao Yue, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
Lu Chen, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
Jianhuai Chen, Jiangsu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
Mingxin Xue, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
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