To systematically review the effects of Baduanjin in knee osteoarthritis patients.

Randomized controlled trial (RCT) on effects of Baduanjin in knee osteoarthritis patients was retrieved in the Web of Science, CINAHL, PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) , WanFang Data and VIP by computer from building database to 23rd January 2019. Two researchers independently screened literatures, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included literatures. The RevMan 5.3 was used to the meta-analysis and GRADE pro was applied to grade the quality of evidence.

Finally, a total of 6 RCTs were included and involved 328 subjects. Meta-analysis showed that Baduanjin compared with control group could improve the pain of patients [SMD=-1.50, 95%CI (-2.43, -0.58) , P=0.001], stiff [SMD=-0.85, 95%CI (-1.46, -0.23) , P=0.007], physiologic function [SMD=-1.28, 95%CI (-2.45, -0.10) , P=0.03] and mobility [SMD=1.04, 95%CI (0.07, 2.02) , P=0.03] with statistical differences. Evidence levels of five evidences were all the extremely low degree of quality.

The existing evidences show that Baduanjin has significant clinical effects on improving the pain of knee osteoarthritis patients, stiff and mobility. The evidences still need to be confirmed by many high quality of researches restricted by research quality of included literatures.

Meta-analysis; Baduanjin; Osteoarthritis, knee; Randomized controlled trial