Kinesitherapy for idiopathic facial palsy: A protocol of systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic facial nerve palsy (Bells palsy) is the most common acute mono-neuropathy which lack of effective treatments. Kinesitherapy as an alternative therapeutic approach was widely used in clinical. But the effects on Bells palsy outcome are still debated. METHODS: The aim of this study is to systematically review the therapeutic efficacy of kinesitherapy for Bells palsy. Database including PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical database (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technology Periodical database (VIP) and WangFang database will be searched to collect randomized controlled trails (RCTs) on kinesitherapy for Bells palsy from inception to Nov 2020. The therapeutic effects based on recovery rate, House-Brackmann (H-B) facial classification system, Sunny brook face grading system and adverse events after the treatment will be marked as the primary outcomes. RevMan V.5.3 software will be used to calculate the data synthesis as well as to perform meta-analysis if the results are appropriate. RESULTS: The literature will provide a high-quality synthesis of current evidence of kinesitherapy for Bells palsy from various comprehensive assessment, including the recovery rate, H-B facial classification, Sunny brook face scores, adverse events rate, Facial disability index (FDI), residual symptoms 6 months after onset, incomplete recovery rate after 1 year. CONCLUSION: The systematic review will provide up-to-date evidence to assess kinesitherapy for Bells palsy. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42020215109.