Background: Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) affects patients' quality of life (QoL) because of the resulting structural and functional impairment and pain.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the evidence regarding the effectiveness, safety and improvement in QoL in patients who underwent Chuna manual therapy (CMT) for TMD.
Methods: We searched 11 databases and included randomized controlled trials (RCT) on CMT for TMD published before March 2020. A meta-analysis was conducted, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) method was used to evaluate the evidence level. We included 12 RCTs that compared CMT and conventional care.
Results: CMT showed significantly better patient pain reduction, functional improvement and QoL. A superior result was seen in the use of CMT in conjunction with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) or conventional care. CMT showed no minor or serious adverse events compared with medical treatments. The evidence level was low for all outcomes, except QoL.
Conclusions: We found that CMT for TMD resulted in functional improvement, pain reduction and improvement in QoL, with fewer adverse events. However, since the evidence level varied from very low to moderate due to imprecision and the risk of bias with the included studies, we are limited in determining the efficacy of Chuna therapy using these studies. High-quality, well-designed and large-scale RCTs are needed to conclusively determine the clinical efficacy of CMT in TMD.