Table 7.

Mean values of pain scales and treatment effect for pain of isometric exercise versus control (isotonic exercise, ice or no treatment): studies assessing outcomes in the short-term (up to 12 weeks)

Acute/chronic	Treatment modes	Tendon affected	First author (year)	Pain scale	Scale range	Isometric group pain score		Control group pain score		Mean treatment effect for pain (2–1) – (4–3) (95% CI)	P value <0.05
						Baseline (1)	Longest follow-up (2)	Baseline (3)	Longest follow-up (4)
Acute	Combined isometric exercise/ice therapy versus ice therapy	Rotator cuff	Parle (2017)32	VAS	0–10	4.8	3.7	5.5	4.5	−0.1 (N/A)	No
	Isometric exercise versus ice	Rotator cuff	Parle (2017)32	VAS	0–10	6.3	4.5	5.5	4.5	−0.8 (N/A)	No
			Dupuis (2018)31	BPI	0–10	3.2	1.6	2.7	1.2	−0.1 (−1.2 to 1)	No
Chronic	Isometric versus isotonic exercise	Patellar	van Ark (2016)36	NRS	0–10	6.3	4	5.5	2	−0.5* (−2.6 to 1.6)	No
		Greater trochanteric pain syndrome	Clifford (2019)17	NRS	0–10	5.9	3.9	5.9	3.2	+0.7 (−0.7 to 1.7)	No
Chronic	Combined isometric/isotonic exercise versus isotonic exercise	Wrist extensors	Stasinopoulos (2017)33	VAS	0–10	6.9	1.6	6.9	2.9	−1.3 (−0.8 to −1.9)	Yes

CIs have been calculated (see Statistical analysis section).

*Values at baseline and follow-up are median and not mean; therefore, the 0.5 value (also median) reported by the authors cannot be obtained from the calculation.

BPI, Brief Pain Inventory; N/A, not applicable; NRS, Numeric Rating Scale; VAS, Visual Analogue Scale.