Efficacy of personalized traditional Chinese medicine massage combined with tuina in the treatment of pediatric congenital heart disease and malnutrition intolerance

Abstract

Objective: To explore the application effect of personalized Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) massage combined with Tuina in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) and malnutrition intolerance.

Methodology: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 315 children with CHD and malnutrition intolerance admitted to Hebei Children’s Hospital from December 2023 to May 2025. Children were divided into a study group (n=160) and a control group (n=155) according to different nursing schemes. The study group received personalized TCM massage combined with Tuina intervention, while the control group received routine nursing intervention. The improvement of malnutrition intolerance symptoms, growth and development indicators, gastrointestinal function, levels of nutrition-related indicators [motilin (MLT), gastrin (GAS), somatostatin (SS), hemoglobin (Hb), serum albumin (ALB)], and the incidence of complications during intervention were statistically compared between the two groups.

Results: The improvement rates of feeding difficulty (87.50%), vomiting (88.75%), diarrhea (90.00%), and abdominal distension (87.50%) in the study group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). After intervention, the body weight, body length, and head circumference of both groups increased compared with those before intervention, and the improvement was significantly higher in the study group than in the control group (P<0.05). After intervention, the serum levels of MLT, GAS, Hb, and ALB in both groups increased, while the SS level decreased, and the study group showed better results than the control group (P<0.05). The incidence of complications in the study group (2.50%) was significantly lower than that in the control group (8.39%) (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Personalized TCM massage combined with Tuina can more effectively improve the clinical symptoms of children with CHD and malnutrition intolerance, promote growth and development, regulate the secretion of gastrointestinal hormones, increase the levels of nutrition indicators, and is associated with a lower incidence of complications compared to the routine nursing.