• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2023

Objective: Manual therapy is a commonly utilized approach in managing chronic pain, but its specific impact on pain catastrophizing remains uncertain. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the effects of manual therapy on pain catastrophizing in individuals with chronic pain. Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in electronic databases to identify relevant studies published from 2014 onwards. Studies that evaluated the impact of manual therapy on pain catastrophizing in individuals with chronic pain were incorporated. The risk of bias in the selected studies was evaluated using the Cochrane tool for risk of bias in qualitative analysis. For the quantitative analysis, RevMan 5.4 software was utilized, employing a random-effects model as the analysis model. The effect measure used in the analysis was the standardized mean difference (SMD). Results: In total, 26 studies were collected, and following the screening process, three of them were incorporated into the final analysis. The included studies involved a total of 153 patients with chronic pain. The interventions comprised various manual therapy techniques targeting different areas of the body. Pain catastrophizing and pain intensity were the primary outcomes of interest. The meta-analysis revealed a significant reduction in pain catastrophizing scores following manual therapy intervention compared to control conditions (SMD = -0.91, 95% CI: -1.25 to -0.58). However, heterogeneity between the studies was observed. Conclusions: Despite the limited quantity and heterogeneity of studies, it has been demonstrated that manual therapy intervention is effective in reducing pain catastrophizing in individuals with chronic pain.