Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2006; 11: 41
To identify and appraise evidence on the practice of shiatsu to determine the direction of future research for the profession.
Comprehensive searches were conducted (Feb 1990 to June 2006) of databases: Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, Cinahl, Amed, PsycInfo, BNI, Blackwell Synergy, Ingenta, Science Direct and indexes to these. All search results and abstracts where available were downloaded to Reference Manager, accepted or rejected according to inclusion criteria and full articles obtained and screened.
Initial search results identified 602 articles, one report and one thesis. After exclusion of duplicates, news articles, foreign language papers, use of wrist bands/other devices, Korean points and auricular acupressure, 146 articles remained for further screening. Shiatsu is included in the MeSH term ‘acupressure’ in most databases. The majority of results related to acupressure not shiatsu. Searches were further complicated by MeSH term trees, acupressure also being found under ‘acupoint’, ‘acupressure point’ and ‘acustimulation’. Of the 146 remaining articles, 106 referred to acupressure and 40 to shiatsu. As acupressure and shiatsu use the same points, articles on acupressure were included. Only nine shiatsu articles referred to specific conditions (low back pain, post-term labour, fibromyalgia, angina, cerebral palsy and cancer). Further exclusions were: adverse event reports, shiatsu as part of multiple interventions, treatment guidelines and surveys.
Preliminary results indicate that there is little published research evidence on shiatsu with most of the literature focusing on acupressure. The profession needs to develop a research strategy to inform its evidence base and future research direction.
Shiatsu Society (UK).
