External treatment of traditional Chinese medicine for constipation after thoracolumbar compression fractures: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Constipation is one of the common complications of thoracolumbar compression fractures, which seriously affects the quality of life and increases pain of patients. External treatment of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used clinically for constipation after thoracolumbar compression fractures, but there are no systematic review and meta-analysis of its efficacy. Therefore, we will conduct this study to systematically evaluate the clinical effects of external treatment of TCM for patients with constipation after thoracolumbar compression fractures. METHODS: We will search the following electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literatures Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, and Wanfang Database. Randomized controlled trials on the treatment of constipation after thoracolumbar compression fractures with external treatment of TCM published from inception to May 2021 will be included in the search scope. The observation group was treated with Simple external treatment of TCM (such as external application of Chinese medicine, Chinese drugs at the acupoint, acupuncture, moxibustion, etc) or external treatment of TCM combined with conventional treatment/nursing of Western medicine, while the control group only was treated by conventional treatment/nursing of Western medicine. After screening literatures, extracting data, and assessing the risk of bias in the included studies, meta-analysis will be performed by Revman 5.3 software. RESULTS: This study is expected to provide an evidence of the efficacy of external treatment of TCM for constipation after thoracolumbar compression fractures. CONCLUSION: The results of this meta-analysis may help provide evidence to determine whether external treatment of TCM can be effective interventions for thoracolumbar compression fractures patients with constipation. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY202150005