Table 4.
Effect Sizes of Pain Outcomes of Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM) in Injured and Comparison Groups: Baseline to Time Point Extended on Next Page
| Author (Product) |
Condition |
Treatment Time × No. of Treatments |
Scale Used |
Time-Elapsed Effect Size With 95% Confidence Intervals (IASTM Listed First)a |
|
| Short-Term, wk | |||||
| 0 |
1 |
||||
| Blanchette and Normand41 (GT) | Lateral elbow epicondylopathy | Unspecified × 10 | VAS, mm | ||
| Sevier and Stegink-Jansen49 (Astym) | Lateral elbow epicondylopathy | Unspecified × 8 | VAS, mm | ||
| Burke et al42 (GT) | Carpal tunnel syndrome | Unspecified × 10 | VAS, mm | 1.95 (0.98, 2.92) | |
| 2.52 (1.35, 3.69) | |||||
| Crothers et al43 (GT) | Nonspecific thoracic pain | 10–15 min × max of 10 | VAS, cm | 0.48 (0.11, 0.84)b | |
| 0.20 (−0.27, 0.67) | |||||
| McCormack et al47 (Astym) | Achilles tendinopathy | 20–30 min × 12 | Numeric pain rating scale | ||
Abbreviations: GT, Graston Technique; N/R, time point measurement but no data reported; VAS, visual analog scale.
a
Effect size of <0.35 is considered trivial, 0.35–0.79 is considered small, 0.80–1.50 is considered moderate, >1.50 is considered large.29,31 Positive effect size indicates improvement.
b
The IASTM group was at least 1 Rhea effect-size category larger than the listed comparison group.