Research Progress of Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment of Insomnia

Abstract

This narrative review of research includes summaries of 62 papers on exercise for reducing pain and stress that were published during the years 2018 to 2023. The publications of this period are primarily randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews/ meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Many of these are focused on exercise reducing low back pain and fibromyalgia. Other pain conditions include neck, knee and shoulder pain. Surprisingly, only one study appeared in this literature on arthritis, although it is reputedly the second most prevalent form of pain next to low back pain. Some of the researchers compared different forms of exercise including resistance training, aerobics and lower intensity exercise, as in yoga and Pilates, and the findings on exercise intensity are mixed. Many researchers have addressed potential underlying biological mechanisms for exercise effects including increased parasympathetic and dopaminergic activity and decreased inflammation, oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-6 and C-reactive protein. Methodological problems relate to the assessment of combined exercise styles and their differing intensity and the more frequent measurement of negative effects as in pain and stress, although the mechanism studies highlight the positive physiological effects of exercise.This narrative review involved entering the terms exercise, pain and stress and the years 2018-2023 into PubMed and PsycINFO. Although the search yielded 1408 papers for the last five years. exclusion criteria, including case studies, non-English papers and study protocols, reduced the number to 62 papers. The recent literature on exercise for pain and stress features studies on reducing low back pain, neck pain, knee osteoarthritis pain and fibromyalgia pain. Underlying mechanism research on exercise effects suggests increased parasympathetic and dopaminergic activity and decreased inflammation, oxidative stress, and proinflammatory cytokines including IL-6 and C-reactive protein. Methodological limitations relate to the assessment of combined exercise styles and their differing intensity and the more frequent measurement of negative effects as in pain and stress, although the mechanism studies highlight the positive physiological effects of exercise. This narrative review is accordingly divided into sections on adult pain conditions, potential underlying biological mechanisms and methodological limitations of the literature.