Mayer 2005.
| Methods | RCT | |
| Participants | N=100; Mean age (yrs): 31; Gender (%female): no info; Diagnosis: < 3 months LBP, unclear whether sciatica was included. Setting: 3 outpatient medical facilities | |
| Interventions | (E) Educational booklet 'acute low back problems in adults, patient guide'. Review of booklet by therapist plus advice to read booklet at home (N=26) (C1) heat wrap (5 consecutive days, 8 hours per day) (N=25) (C2) exercise under supervision of therapist, standardized full range of motion exercise plus home exercises for 5 days (N=25) (C3) heat wrap plus exercise (N=24) | |
| Outcomes | Pain:
Relief (0 to 5 verbal rating scale) at end of intervention## (graph): (E) 1.4; (C1) 2.3; (C2) 2.0; (C3) 3.4 Back pain‐specific functional status: Roland Morris (0 to 24) at baseline and end of intervention## (graph): (E) 10.78.0; (C1) 9.16.3; (C2) 9.16.7; (C3) 7.43.6 multidimensional task ability profile questionnaire (0 to 200) at baseline and end of intervention## (graph); (E) 100.5, 120; (C1) 91.9, 132; (C2)100.0, 130; (C3) 85.7, 165 (comparison (E) vs (C1) or (C2) is not clear from text) ## (E) less effective than (C3) (p < 0.05) |
|
| Notes | ||
| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Adequate sequence generation? | Low risk | |
| Allocation concealment? | Unclear risk | B ‐ Unclear |
| Blinding? All outcomes ‐ patients? | High risk | |
| Blinding? All outcomes ‐ providers? | High risk | |
| Blinding? All outcomes ‐ outcome assessors? | Unclear risk | Unclear from text |
| Incomplete outcome data addressed? All outcomes ‐ drop‐outs during intervention? | Low risk | |
| Incomplete outcome data addressed? All outcomes ‐ drop‐outs during follow‐up? | High risk | |
| Incomplete outcome data addressed? All outcomes ‐ ITT analysis? | Unclear risk | Unclear from text |
| Similarity at baseline characteristics? | High risk | |
| Co‐interventions avoided or similar? | Low risk | |
| Compliance acceptable? | Unclear risk | Unclear from text |