Movement Awareness Therapies in Eating Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Cristina Bravo, Didier Hernández-García, Manuel Trinidad-Fernández and 3 others
PMID 39438086WHAT IT FOUND
Movement and body awareness therapies, often given with usual care, improved eating disorder examination scores.
Overall eating symptom severity showed no clear improvement.
Key findings
01The meta-analysis found eating disorder examination scores favored movement awareness therapy, with a weighted mean difference of -0.30 (95% CI -0.57 to -0.02; p = 0.04).
02The standardized mean difference for overall eating disorder symptom severity was -0.22 and did not reach significance, with I2 = 75% heterogeneity.
03The evidence base was small and at high risk of bias: no study was labeled low risk, and sample sizes ranged from 14 to 72.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The included trials were small, with sample sizes of 14 to 72 participants. No study was rated low risk of bias, and performance and detection bias were common because participants, personnel, and outcome assessors were often not blinded. Only two studies reported blinding of evaluators. The therapies varied widely in type, duration, and number of sessions, from 7 days to 2 years. The search used a limited number of terms and only English and Spanish studies, so relevant trials may have been missed. Positive trials may be overrepresented. The education and experience of therapists delivering the interventions could bias results. Long-term effects remain unclear.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that movement awareness therapies alone are an established effective treatment for eating disorders. Many intervention groups received movement therapy alongside usual care, standard care, or family therapy, so the movement component alone cannot be separated. The pooled eating symptom severity difference was -0.22 and did not reach significance, with I2 = 75% heterogeneity, and no included study was rated low risk of bias.