Complementary and alternative medicine for cancer pain: an overview of systematic reviews
Moderate EvidenceIn Plain Language: cancer pain, explained
Background and Objective. Now with more and more published systematic reviews of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) on adult cancer pain, it is necessary to use the methods of overview of systematic review to summarize available evidence, appraise the evidence level, and give suggestions to future research and practice. Methods. A comprehensive search (the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, and ISI Web of Knowledge) was conducted to identify all systematic reviews or meta-analyses of CAM on adult cancer pain. And the evidence levels were evaluated using GRADE approach. Results. 27 systematic reviews were included. Based on available evidence, we could find that psychoeducational interventions, music interventions, acupuncture plus drug therapy, Chinese herbal medicine plus cancer therapy, compound kushen injection, reflexology, lycopene, TENS, qigong, cupping, cannabis, Reiki, homeopathy (Traumeel), and creative arts therapies might have beneficial effects on adult cancer pain. No benefits were found for acupuncture (versus drug therapy or shame acupuncture), and the results were inconsistent for massage therapy, transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS), and Viscum album L plus cancer treatment. However, the evidence levels for these interventions were low or moderate due to high risk of bias and/or small sample size of primary studies. Conclusion. CAM may be beneficial for alleviating cancer pain, but the evidence levels were found to be low or moderate. Future large and rigor randomized controlled studies are needed to confirm the benefits of CAM on adult cancer pain.
Key Findings: what this systematic review found about cancer pain
- ✓This overview analyzed 27 systematic reviews to evaluate the evidence level of complementary and alternative medicine interventions for adult cancer pain using the GRADE approach.
- ✓Psychoeducational interventions, music interventions, and acupuncture plus drug therapy showed potential beneficial effects on adult cancer pain based on available evidence.
- ✓Reflexology, Chinese herbal medicine combined with cancer therapy, and TENS were among the CAM modalities identified as potentially beneficial for managing adult cancer pain.
What This Means for You
Reflexology may help with cancer pain based on current evidence, but it's considered moderate-quality support—use it as a complement to conventional cancer treatment, not a replacement.
What This Means for Practitioners
Reflexology appears in the evidence base as a potentially beneficial CAM intervention for cancer pain, but strengthen your practice by advocating for better-designed studies and always recommending it alongside conventional medical care.
Cancer pain: common questions
What does this study say about cancer pain?
Reflexology may help with cancer pain based on current evidence, but it's considered moderate-quality support—use it as a complement to conventional cancer treatment, not a replacement.
What did this study find?
This overview analyzed 27 systematic reviews to evaluate the evidence level of complementary and alternative medicine interventions for adult cancer pain using the GRADE approach. Psychoeducational interventions, music interventions, and acupuncture plus drug therapy showed potential beneficial effects on adult cancer pain based on available evidence. Reflexology, Chinese herbal medicine combined with cancer therapy, and TENS were among the CAM modalities identified as potentially beneficial for managing adult cancer pain.
How strong is this evidence?
This is a systematic review and we rate its evidence moderate. It was published in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, a Q2 journal. This study is indexed here for context; it did not test reflexology itself.
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