Wang, Shoujian, Ren, Jun, Zhou, Xin et al. · Journal of translational medicine · 2026 · DOI
This study tested whether Tuina, a hands-on therapy from traditional Chinese medicine, could help people with ME/CFS feel less tired. Over 4 weeks, people who received Tuina three times per week alongside their usual care felt significantly better than those who received usual care alone. The improvement was especially noticeable for physical tiredness, and people also reported better sleep and less anxiety.
This is the first high-quality RCT examining Tuina as an adjunctive therapy for CFS, addressing a significant gap in nonpharmacologic treatment options for this disabling condition. The findings suggest a potentially safe, accessible intervention that warrants further investigation, offering hope to patients who have limited evidence-based treatment choices.
This single-center, 4-week trial does not establish long-term efficacy or whether benefits persist after therapy stops. The study cannot distinguish whether improvements are due to specific therapeutic mechanisms of Tuina versus general effects of manual touch, attention, or expectation. Generalizability to diverse populations and healthcare settings remains unclear without multicenter confirmation.
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
Wang, Shoujian, Ren, Jun, Zhou, Xin, Fang, Sitong, He, Tianxiang, Wu, Zhiwei, et al. (2026). Tuina therapy for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.. Journal of translational medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-025-07624-7
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-wang-2026-tuina-therapy,
author = {Wang, Shoujian and Ren, Jun and Zhou, Xin and Fang, Sitong and He, Tianxiang and Wu, Zhiwei and Xu, Shanda and Kong, Lingjun and Fang, Min},
title = {Tuina therapy for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.},
journal = {Journal of translational medicine},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1186/s12967-025-07624-7},
note = {PubMed: 41507906},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2026-tuina-therapy},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2026-tuina-therapy
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