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 |