Lei, Long-Ming, Wu, Qiong-Yuan, He, Yu-Feng · Zhongguo zhen jiu = Chinese acupuncture & moxibustion · 2020 · DOI
This study tested whether a traditional Chinese medicine approach combining facial scraping and leg massage techniques could help ME/CFS patients feel less tired and mentally better. Patients receiving these techniques plus standard vitamin treatment showed greater improvement in fatigue and mood scores compared to those receiving vitamins alone.
This study adds to limited evidence on non-pharmacological interventions for ME/CFS symptom management. If replicated with rigorous methodology, tuina-based techniques could offer patients an additional therapeutic option to supplement conventional treatment approaches.
This study does not establish whether tuina techniques work mechanistically or persist beyond the 30-day treatment window due to lack of follow-up assessment. The lack of blinding creates potential placebo and observer bias. Additionally, the study cannot determine whether improvements were specifically due to the manual techniques or to synergistic effects with concurrent vitamin supplementation.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Lei, Long-Ming, Wu, Qiong-Yuan, & He, Yu-Feng (2020). [Scraping on head and face combined with stepping technique of <i>tuina</i> along lower limbs for chronic fatigue syndrome].. Zhongguo zhen jiu = Chinese acupuncture & moxibustion. https://doi.org/10.13703/j.0255-2930.20190801-k0006
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-lei-2020-scraping-head,
author = {Lei, Long-Ming and Wu, Qiong-Yuan and He, Yu-Feng},
title = {[Scraping on head and face combined with stepping technique of <i>tuina</i> along lower limbs for chronic fatigue syndrome].},
journal = {Zhongguo zhen jiu = Chinese acupuncture & moxibustion},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.13703/j.0255-2930.20190801-k0006},
note = {PubMed: 33068345},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lei-2020-scraping-head},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lei-2020-scraping-head
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