Traditional manual therapy, alone or alongside standard care, appears to relieve childhood functional dyspepsia symptoms, reduce recurrence, and cause no reported adverse events.
Researchers systematically searched eleven databases for randomized controlled trials published through June 2022 that evaluated traditional manual therapy for children with functional dyspepsia. Two independent reviewers selected studies, extracted outcome data, assessed study quality using a standard bias-assessment tool, and pooled findings through meta-analysis.
Across ten trials involving children with functional dyspepsia, traditional manual therapy, either alone or combined with conventional treatment, improved overall treatment response and reduced overall digestive symptom severity compared with conventional treatment alone. It also shortened recovery from abdominal bloating, abdominal pain, belching, and poor appetite, lowered recurrence after treatment, and was associated with increased markers related to gastrointestinal motility and intestinal absorption. Individual symptom comparisons and one neurochemical marker did not consistently differ between combined therapy and conventional treatment, while no adverse events were reported.
