Table 2.
Downs and black methodological quality assessment results
| Article reference | |||||||||||||
| Criteria | De Mey et al53 |
Hardwick et al54 |
Kaur et al55 |
Kibler et al56 |
Maenhout et al57 |
Maenhout et al58 |
Nagai et al59 |
Nakamura et al52 |
Smith et al60 |
Tsuruike and Ellenbecker61 | Uhl et al62 |
Yamauchi et al63 |
|
| Criteria 1–10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Reporting | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | X | 1 | X | X | 1 | X | |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | X | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 (/2) | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | X | X | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | X | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | X | X | 1 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | X | X | X | 1 | |
| Criteria 11–13 | 11 | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD |
| External validity | 12 | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD |
| 13 | UTD | 1 | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | 1 | UTD | UTD | UTD | |
| Criteria 14–20 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Internal validity bias | 15 | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD |
| 16 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 17 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | UTD | |
| 18 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | UTD | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 19 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 20 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Criteria 21–26 | 21 | 1 | 1 | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | UTD |
| Internal validity | 22 | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD | UTD |
| Selection bias | 23 | X | X | 1 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| 24 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| 25 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| 26 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Criteria 27 | 27 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Modified power | Total | 16 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 13 |
| % Agreement | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| Quality grade | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Poor | Fair | Fair | Poor | |
For article scoring: 1=score given; X=no score given. 
, items deemed less pertinent to the quality of investigatory EMG studies; 
, items deemed most pertinent to the quality of investigatory EMG studies.
EMG, electromyography; UTD, unable to determine.