Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of the traditional Chinese procedure abdominal Tuina(AT) on chronic fatigue syndrome(CFS).METHODS: This randomized, single assessor-blinded clinical trial was carried out from May 2014 to April 2015. Eighty participants in the trial were divided randomly into two groups: experimental group and control. The experimental group(40 cases) was treated by AT and the control group(40 cases) by acupuncture. Each treatment was conducted once a day, 5 d for one course, at an interval of 2 d between each course. The whole treatment course lasted for 4 weeks. To ascertain the effect of AT and acupuncture, Fatigue Scale-14(FS-14), Self-rating Anxiety Scale(SAS) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression(HAMD) scores were used before and after treatment. Patients were followed up for3 months after treatment.RESULTS: After treatment for 4 weeks, 77 patients(39 cases in the experimental group and 38 cases in the control group) completed the trial. The FS-14,SAS and HAMD scores decreased(P < 0.05) significantly compared with those before treatment in both groups. The FS-14 and HAMD(P < 0.05) scores in the experimental group were much lower than those in the control group. The difference in SAS scores between the two groups was not significant.In the final follow-up, CFS in two cases in the experimental group and three in the control group recurred, but the difference was not significant. The scores for the FS-14, SAS and HAMD in the experimental group were superior to those of the control group, and the difference was significant(P < 0.05).No serious adverse events and few adverse events were observed.CONCLUSION: AT elicited a more efficacious effect than acupuncture alone on CFS.

Key words: Tui Na, Acupuncture, Fatigue syndrome,chronic, Randomized controlled trial, Fatigue scale-14, Self-rating anxiety scale, Hamilton rating scale for depression