Baduanjin exercise for low back pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis

•Baduanjin is very popular and widely practiced for the management of LBP.•This study systematically evaluated the efficacy and safety of Baduanjin for LBP.•No large effects on pain or back-specific function were identified.•It suggests that Baduanjin is effective for LBP. However, more large-scale, well-designed RCTs are warranted. Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common public health concerns worldwide. Baduanjin is very popular and widely practiced for the management of LBP. This study aims to systematically investigate the efficacy and safety of Baduanjin exercise for patients with LBP. The PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Web of Science Core Collection, CBM, CNKI, WANFANG and VIP databases were searched from inception to August 2018 to identify potentially eligible studies. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane collaboration’s tool. All statistical analyses were conducted with the RevMan 5.3 software. Nine studies involving 519 patients were included in this systematic review. Our meta-analysis showed that Baduanjin was associated with a small improvement in pain relief compared with general exercise (MD= -0.50, 95% CI: -0.86 to -0.15, P = 0.005). One trial indicated that Baduanjin was superior to routine drug (ibuprofen) in alleviating pain, and the effect was moderate (MD= -1.04, 95% CI: -1.52 to -0.56, P