Is visceral osteopathy therapy effective? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: This systematic review with meta-analysis aims to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of visceral osteopathy (VO) in musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal disorders. Methods: Two independent reviewers searched in PubMed, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Web of Science databases in November 2023 and extracted data for randomized controlled trials evaluating the clinical effectiveness of VO. The risk of bias and the certainty of evidence were assessed using the Risk-of-Bias tool 2 and the GRADE Profile, respectively. Meta-analyses were conducted using random effect models using RevMan 5.4. software. Results: Fifteen studies were included in the qualitative and seven in the quantitative synthesis. For musculoskeletal disorders, the qualitative and quantitative synthesis suggested that VO produces no statistically significant changes in any outcome variable for patients with low back pain, neck pain or urinary incontinence. For non-musculoskeletal conditions, the qualitative synthesis showed that VO was not effective for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, breast cancer, and very low weight preterm infants. Most of the studies were classified as high risk of bias and the certainty of evidence downgraded to low or very low. Conclusion: VO did not show any benefit in any musculoskeletal or non-musculoskeletal condition.