The effects of Gua sha on symptoms and inflammatory biomarkers associated with chronic low back pain: A randomized active-controlled crossover pilot study in elderly.

Objective: To address the challenges for trialing with elderly and the lacking of valid sham/placebo control, a randomized crossover pilot study is designed and its feasibility on elderly subjects is evaluated.

Design: A pilot randomized crossover study was conducted with hydrocollator-based hot pack therapy as active control. Pain intensity, physical disability, depression, general health status, and salivary biomarkers were assessed as outcome measures.