Study	Reason for exclusion
Afravi 2019	Emailed author to clarify the following 16 July 2020, no response It is unclear if this study was part prevention part treatment as not all women who enrolled had pain, and pain is not a trial entry criterion Use of analgesia ‐ it is reported that "all patients routinely received mefenamic acid (500 mg) or acetaminophen (325 mg) (based on its availability) 4 and 10 hours after delivery." and "In the early 10 hours after delivery, based on the postpartum ward routine, the mothers received painkillers and also were allowed to use extra painkillers if they requested. The amount of painkiller was compared between intervention and control groups.." Although the authors have reported "no difference" in analgesic use, they have not provided data. We have considered this trial to be uncontrolled
Azpiroz 1971	Women with any postpartum pain included without differentiation between origin of pain Translated from Spanish to English by Ruth Martis with the assistance of a translation software
Bachar 2018	Preventive intervention rather than treatment
Bahri 2019	Preventive intervention rather than treatment
Baptisti 1971	Inappropriate study design for this review. Insufficient detail on who participated and how pain scores were derived and analysed
Barhan 2019	Preventive intervention rather than treatment
Beaver 1980	Women with episiotomy pain and uterine cramp pain included and analysed together. Separate members for pain subgroups not available
Benson 1963	Includes women with any postpartum pain ‐ no subgroup analyses
Bilgin 2016	Inclusion criteria do not specify women with postpartum pain from uterine cramping. Range of initial pre‐treatment pain assessment scores on visual analogue scale included 0. More than 80% of women reported perineal pain prior to intervention. Unclear if post‐intervention pain assessment only for pain from uterine cramping
Bloomfield 1988a	Trial registered with Oxford Perinatal Trials Database ‐ never reported. Confirmed by author
Bloomfield 1988b	Trial registered with Oxford Perinatal Trials Database ‐ never reported. Confirmed by author
Blue 2018	Included women who gave birth by caesarean, outcomes not reported separately for mode of birth
Bonica 1957	Results combine perineal pain and uterine cramp pain
Bruni 1965	Source of postpartum pain not specified or separated for analyses
Can 2015	Preventive intervention rather than treatment
Cunha 2011	Preventive intervention rather than treatment
Finch 1957	Type of pain not separated. Not a suitable study design for inclusion
Gindhart 1971	The medications tested are no longer available for use, as it was associated with severe adverse effects
Goodman 2005	Data not separated into source of pain. Confirmation from author
Gruber 1962	Results for pain intensity and change in pain intensity; do not separate uterine cramp pain from incisional (episiotomy) pain. No useable data
Gruber 1963	Results for pain intensity and change in pain intensity do not separate uterine cramp pain from incisional (episiotomy) pain
Gruber 1971a	Participants may have participated on more than 1 day and therefore included as 2 participants. No suitable data could be extracted
Gruber 1971b	Participants may have participated on more than 1 day and therefore included as 2 participants. No suitable data could be extracted
Gruber 1979	No useful data ‐ conclusions based on data pooled from both sources of pain ‐ uterine cramp and episiotomy. Paper focus is on methods of analyses
Hartemann 1968	Does not differentiate between postpartum pains. Overall only gives "good and bad results" Translated from French to English with the assistance of Philippa Middleton and by Ruth Martis with the assistance of a translation software
Kantor 1984b	Results for pain intensity and change in pain intensity do not separate uterine cramp pain from incisional (episiotomy) pain
Katz 2019	Preventive intervention rather than treatment
Kayman‐Kose 2014	Preventive intervention rather than treatment
Kenton 2011	Includes women with other sources of postpartum pain ‐ no subgroup analyses (NCT01271855 2011)
Kim 2019	Includes women with any postpartum pain ‐ no subgroup analyses. Author emailed 17 December 2019; 8 January 2020. No response
Kumbar 2017	Includes women with any postpartum pain ‐ no subgroup analyses
Laska 1983	Not a suitable study design for this review. Some analyses of source of pain but does not separate the various doses of the medications being tested
Li 2014	English abstract, paper written in Chinese. Translated by Aidan Tan, 08 July 2020. The paper states that the intervention is being tested to prevent pain, it is likely that some women had pain and were included for relief. Data not reported separately. Trials of prevention are not included in this review. Author emailed 09 July 2020 ‐ email address not active
Li 2015	English abstract, paper written in Chinese. Translated by Aidan Tan 08 July 2020; this is a study of an intervention for joint pain postpartum
Linder 1997	Women were not randomised. They were selected by a nurse who attempted to match baseline characteristics
Mehlhorn 2006	Abstract only in supplement of journal. Data analysis not completed, as confirmed by email with author. Translated into English by Ruth Martis
Mirror 2019	This study is about prevention, not treatment
Narimatsu 2001	This study is about prevention, not treatment
Nazari 2018	This study is about prevention, not treatment
Nunlee 2000	Results do not separate uterine cramp pain from incisional (episiotomy pain). Attempts to contact author unsuccessful, (Internet, email and mail)
Olson 1984	Results for pain intensity and change in pain intensity do not separate uterine cramp pain from incisional (episiotomy) pain
Ozgoli 2018	Abstract and trial registration give different information on the use of ibuprofen whilst undergoing trial interventions and assessment of pain, therefore not possible to define intervention and not possible to separate the effect of ibuprofen from the effect of the trial intervention. The authors have not provided any further information
Pan 1993	Preventive intervention rather than treatment. This trial was included in 2011
Parsa 2019	All women in the study had access to other analgesia as required and therefore it is not possible to separate the effect of the other analgesia from the effect of the intervention. This study was translated 04 August 2020
Prockop 1960	Study method not suitable for inclusion. Randomisation was by ward, analyses by individual. One of the medications tested (ASA compound) is no longer in use
Ray 1993	Does not differentiate between types of pain. Attempts to contact author unsuccessful
Redick 1980	This study was done on analgesia for postpartum women with no description of the source of the pain
Rubin 1984	Study done on postpartum women with episiotomies. No description of type of pain other than this. Not certain uterine cramp pain included
Smith 1973	No definition of postpartum pain. Paper about analgesic‐sedative effect of drug combination. Analyses include post‐surgical men and women
Soltani 2017	Preventive intervention rather than treatment. Author emailed 8 January 2020
Sunshine 1983	Analyses do not separate pain from uterine cramping and pain from episiotomies
Sunshine 1985	Inlcudes episiotomy, CS and uterine cramps. Episiotomy and CS pain analysed together. Uterine pain was not analysed alone as the numbers were too small
Sunshine 1986	Analyses do not separate type of pain
Sunshine 1989	Ineligible because women with pain from different sources were included, not possible to differentiate pain due to involution
Tafazoli 2013	All women in the study had access to other analgesia as required and therefore it is not possible to separate the effect of the other analgesia from the effect of the intervention. This study was translated 26 July 2020
Van Wering 1972	Includes any source of postpartum pain; analyses do not separate type of pain
Vaziri 2017	Includes women with perineal pain ‐ no subgroup analyses
Von Pein 1974	Does not describe source of pain in puerperium
Yogev 2015	Trial not eligible. Trial has 2 parts: 1. Prevention arm where women who had not begun breastfeeding were be randomised to the dental device or not to prevent pain. 2. All women who had begun feeding were given the device and acted as their own control – pain measured before and after use

CS: caesarean section