Table 2.

Assessing methodological quality ([20]

adapted from Kennedy et al. 2010

Question	Weight
1. Is the research question clearly stated?	2
2. Were comparison group(s) used?	3
3. Was an intervention allocation described adequately? (and was it randomized?)	3*2
4. Was recruitment (or participation) rate reported?	2
5. Were pre-intervention characteristics described?	2
6. Was loss to follow-up (attrition) < 35%?	2
7. Did the author examine for important differences between the remaining and drop-out participants after the intervention?	2
8. Was the intervention process adequately described to allow for replication?	3
9. Were the effects of the intervention on some exposure parameters documented?	1
10. Was the participation in the intervention documented?	2
11. Were musculoskeletal pain, symptoms, discomfort and/or disorders described at baseline and at follow-up	3
12. Was the length of follow-up three months or greater?	2
13. Was there adjustment for pre-intervention differences (minimum threshold of three important covariates include age, gender and primary outcome at baseline)?	3
14. Were the statistical analyses optimized for the best results?	3
15. Were all participants’ outcomes analyzed by the groups to which they were originally allocated (intention-to-treat analysis)?	2
16. Was there a direct between-group comparison?	3