High-frequency follow-up studies in musculoskeletal disorders: a scoping review

Global trends of traditional Chinese exercises for musculoskeletal disorders treatment research from 2000 to 2022: A bibliometric analysis

Background

Traditional Chinese exercise has been shown to be effective in relieving long-term chronic pain, physical dysfunction, decreased ability to participate in society and decreased quality of life in musculoskeletal diseases. In recent years, there has been a steady increase in publications on the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders by traditional Chinese exercises. The purpose of this study is to review the characteristics and trends of Chinese traditional exercise studies on musculoskeletal diseases published since 2000 through bibliometric analysis, and identify current research hotspots, so as to guide the direction of future research.

Methods

Publications regarding traditional Chinese exercises for musculoskeletal disorders from 2000 to 2022 were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection. VOSviewer 1.6.18 and CiteSpace V software were used for bibliometric analyses. Bibliometric visualization and comparative analysis were conducted for authors, cited authors, journals, co-cited journals, institutions, countries, references, and keywords.

Results

A total of 432 articles were obtained, with an upward trend over time. The most productive countries and institutions in this field are the USA (183) and Harvard University (70). Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (20) was the most prolific journal, Cochrane Database System Review (758) was the most commonly cited journal. Wang Chenchen published the largest number of articles (18). According to high frequency keywords, the hot spot musculoskeletal disorder and the type of traditional Chinese exercise are knee osteoarthritis and Tai Chi.

Conclusion

This study provides a scientific perspective for the research of traditional Chinese exercises for musculoskeletal disorders and provides valuable information for researchers to discover the current research status, hot spots and new trends of future research.

Within and between-day variation and associations of symptoms in Long Covid: Intensive longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

People with Long Covid (Post Covid-19 Condition) describe multiple symptoms which vary between and within individuals over relatively short time intervals. We aimed to describe the real-time associations between different symptoms and between symptoms and physical activity at the individual patient level.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

Intensive longitudinal study of 82 adults with self-reported Long Covid (median duration 12-18 months). Data collection involved a smartphone app with 5 daily entries over 14 days and continuous wearing of a wrist accelerometer. Data items included 7 symptoms (Visual Analog Scales) and perceived demands in the preceding period (Likert scales). Activity was measured using mean acceleration in the 3-hour periods preceding and following app data entry. Analysis used within-person correlations of symptoms pairs and both pooled and individual symptom networks derived from graphical vector autoregression. App data was suitable for analysis from 74 participants (90%) comprising 4022 entries representing 77.6% of possible entries. Symptoms varied substantially within individuals and were only weakly autocorrelated. The strongest between-subject symptom correlations were of fatigue with pain (partial coefficient 0.5) and cognitive difficulty with light-headedness (0.41). Pooled within-subject correlations showed fatigue correlated with cognitive difficulty (partial coefficient 0.2) pain (0.19) breathlessness (0.15) and light-headedness (0.12) but not anxiety. Cognitive difficulty was correlated with anxiety and light-headedness (partial coefficients 0.16 and 0.17). Individual participant correlation heatmaps and symptom networks showed no clear patterns indicative of distinct phenotypes. Symptoms, including fatigue, were inconsistently correlated with prior or subsequent physical activity: this may reflect adjustment of activity in response to symptoms. Delayed worsening of symptoms after the highest activity peak was observed in 7 participants.

CONCLUSION

Symptoms of Long Covid vary within individuals over short time scales, with heterogenous patterns of symptom correlation. The findings are compatible with altered central symptom processing as an additional factor in Long Covid.