TABLE 4.

Evidence available from systematic reviews on physiotherapy treatment effectiveness

Condition	Treatment	Effectiveness	1st Author (year)
Mechanical neck disorders	Exercises	Limited evidence of benefit for strengthening, stretching and strengthening exercises for neck disorder with headache.	Kay et al. (2005)
		Limited evidence of benefit for active range-of-motion exercises or a home exercise program for acute mechanical neck disorder.
		Unclear evidence of benefit for a stretching and strengthening program in chronic mechanical neck disorder.
Non-specific neck pain	Massage	Uncertain	Ezzo et al. (2007)
	Manual & supervised exercise interventions	For subacute or chronic non-specific neck pain, more effective than no treatment, sham or alternative interventions.	Hurwitz et al. (2008)
	Interventions focused on regaining function & return to work	For neck pain without radicular symptoms, relatively more effective than interventions that do not have such a focus.
Shoulder pain	Exercise	Effective in short-term recovery and longer-term benefit to function.	Green et al. (2003)
Work-related complaints of the neck, shoulder or arm	Exercises	Conflicting evidence concerning efficacy vs. no treatment.	Verhagen et al. (2006)
Lateral epicondylitis (elbow)	Exercise	Positive effects in the reduction of pain or improvement in function.	Trudel et al. (2004)
Low-back pain	Exercise	Slightly effective at decreasing pain and improving function in adults with chronic low-back pain. In subacute low-back pain, some evidence that a graded activity program improves absenteeism outcomes.	Hayden et al. (2005)
	Massage	Might be beneficial for patients with subacute and chronic non-specific low-back pain, especially when combined with exercises and education.	Furlan (2002)