| Methods |
Randomisation by random numbers table, unclear concealment |
| Participants |
81 patients undergoing spinal surgery randomly assigned, 59 of whom underwent laminectomy or discectomy. Others were operated for fusion |
| Interventions |
(I) (N = 32) Standard postoperative care (isometric and dynamic exercises, progress as tolerated) AND active and passive exercises for neural mobilisation (six days in hospital, encouraged to continue for at least six weeks)
(C) Standard postoperative care ONLY (isometric and dynamic exercises, progress as tolerated) |
| Outcomes |
Overall improvement at 12 months (I) 67.7% versus (C) 68.9%
Pain (VAS) six weeks' score (I) 26.6 (SD: 29.3) versus (C) 33.4 (SD: 30.6); at 12 months (I) 33.4 (SD: 34.2) versus (C) 25.7 (SD: 29.18)
Functional status (QBPQ) at six weeks (I) 34.9 (SD: 22.9) versus (C) 30.4 (SD: 22.8), at 12 months (I) 29.9 (SD: 24.1) versus (C) 27.2 (SD: 24.8) |
| Notes |
Unpublished data used for analyses so that only the 59 participants who underwent laminectomy or discectomy were included |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Random numbers table |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Unclear from text |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes ‐ patients? |
High risk |
Addition of neural mobilisation |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes ‐ care providers? |
High risk |
Addition of neural mobilisation |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes ‐ outcome assessors? |
High risk |
Patient reported |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes ‐ drop‐outs? |
Low risk |
Results paragraph 1 |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes ‐ ITT analysis? |
High risk |
Dropouts |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
VAS, McGill, Quebec, reported in outcome measures and in results |
| Similarity of baseline characteristics? |
Low risk |
Table 1 |
| Co‐interventions avoided or similar? |
Low risk |
Equal exercise programme |
| Compliance acceptable? |
High risk |
37/46 control and 28/34 intervention compliant, results |
| Timing outcome assessments similar? |
Low risk |
6 weeks, 6 and 12 months |
