| Methods |
Design: three group parallel trial
Purpose: study the effect of physiotherapy |
| Participants |
Out‐patients having had a disc herniation operation
Baseline comparability: yes (except for body mass index) |
| Interventions |
Placebo: sessions with neck massage
Untreated: no sessions
Experimental: sessions with physiotherapy‐based rehabilitation
(Co‐intervention: yes) |
| Outcomes |
Low Back Pain Rating Scale
Overall satisfaction
Socioeconomic parameters
State Trait Anxiety Inventory |
| Notes |
SDs were obtained from the reported CIs |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Adequate sequence generation? |
Low risk |
‘block randomization (SAS) was performed by the Department of Medical Statistics’ |
| Allocation concealment? |
Low risk |
'sequentially numbered, sealed opaque envelopes' |
| Blinding?
Treatment provider |
High risk |
Not described as double‐blind (placebo/physiotherapy) |
| Blinding?
Outcome assessor |
Unclear risk |
Not relevant as patient reported outcome |
| Incomplete outcome data addressed?
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Drop‐out < 15% |
| Free of selective reporting? |
Unclear risk |
No protocol available |
| Free of other bias? |
Low risk |
|
| No signs of variance inequality or skewness? |
Unclear risk |
Not relevant (not naturally positive continuous outcomes e.g. change) |
| Trial size > 49? |
Low risk |
N = 80 |
| Clearly concealed allocation + trial size > 49 + drop‐out max 15% |
Low risk |
All three categories fulfilled |
