Trauma Releasing Exercises as a Treatment Technique: A Scoping Review

Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE®) is a mind-body technique predominantly used to address stress and anxiety. Occupational therapists use such techniques to enhance occupational performance but require evidence-based support. This scoping review, following the JBI framework, synthesized 22 studies on TRE (24 records). The JBI is an organization aimed at guiding how health research is generated and evaluated. The study objectives were to describe the characteristics of TRE intervention studies (including population characteristics, measurement tools used to measure treatment outcomes and outcomes of treatment), in order to provide evidence for occupational therapy practice related to anxiety management, as well as to indicate the gaps in the literature. TRE was mainly applied to stress- and trauma-exposed populations, with potential benefits for mood, anxiety-related sleep difficulties, and cognitive functions. Preliminary evidence also suggests benefit for conditions such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. While study designs were not consistently rigorous, findings highlight TRE's promise and the need for more research to inform evidence-based practice.