Effectiveness and safety of massage in the treatment of restless legs syndrome: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis

BACKGROUND: Restless legs syndrome (RLS), known as a kind of neurological disease, is prevalent but easy to be ignored. Studies have demonstrated that massage therapy can effectively reduce the symptoms of patients with RLS and improve their quality of life. However, the efficacy of massage therapy for RLS is still controversial. Therefore, this protocol aims to evaluate the reliability of massage therapy in treating RLS in a thorough way. METHODS: We will search relevant randomized controlled trials from Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chongqing VIP, CNKI, Wanfang, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and EMBASE, when publication status and language are not considered and the time limit ends with September 6, 2020. Two experienced researchers will use RevMan V.5.3 software to perform the selection of literature, data collection, data analysis and synthesis separately. Besides, the quality of trials involved in this study will be measured with the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool. RESULTS: This protocol will be applied to carry out a systematic evaluation of the massage therapy purposed to treat RLS for its effectiveness and safety. CONCLUSION: The review will provide a credible evidence suggesting whether massage therapy is a reliable intervention for RLS. INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY202090038