Table 1.

Interpretation of noninvasive therapeutic methods and comparisons.

Type of intervention	Interpretation
Manual therapy
Massage	Gradually increasing the pressure through the finger for 5–10 s. The pressure volume did not exceed the pain pressure threshold for each patient
Ischemic compression	Putting fingers on the shock touch point could produce tolerable pain, and constant pressure. The pressure continued to increase and lasted for tens of seconds, and the patient felt tenderness and continued to repeat the process
Postisometric relaxation	The target muscle underwent a moderate isometric contraction
Biomechanical correction technique	Including postisometric, postreciprocal, antigravity relaxation of the muscles, myofascial release, and postisometric spinal auto-mobilization techniques
Self-myofascial release	Patients used a tool (e.g. a foam roller) to perform myofascial release exercises by themselves. They used own weight to pressure the soft tissues during exercise
Integrated neuromuscular inhibition technique	Including the combination of the ischemic compression technique, the strain-counter-strain technique, and the muscle energy technique
Laser therapy	Including both high-level and low-level lasers with a kind of laser instrument
Electronic therapy	It referred to the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. Operation was used by a transcutaneous electrical stimulation instrument
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy	It referred to apply external shock wave instrument (e.g. Dornier AR2) to target muscle
Ultrasound	It referred to apply ultrasound therapy instrument (e.g. Sonoplus 992, Enraf-Nonius, and Delft)
Exercise	Including strengthening (isometric exercises, neck flexion, extension, right/left lateral flexion, pectoral muscles, the posterior part of the deltoids muscle, and posture exercises) and stretching (neck flexion, extension, right/left lateral flexion, right/left rotation, and pectoral muscle) exercises
Medicine	Including topical external medication (e.g. ketoprofen patches and topical capsaicin patches) and oral medication
Kinesio taping	Using Kinesio taping on targeted muscles
Heat	Using heating pad on targeted muscles
Far-infrared ray	Using a far-infrared device
Combined therapy	Including the above mentioned two or more therapies at the same time
Comparisons	One type of noninvasive therapy different from the intervention group, or no treatment, sham treatment, placebo treatment, control treatment