| Study characteristics |
| Methods |
Study design: RCT
Setting: England, healthcare
Exercise groups: 1
Comparison groups: 1 |
| Participants |
Number of participants: 71 (E1 = 36, C1 = 35)
Chronic LBP duration: 90 weeks (moderate)
Neurological/radicular symptoms: No participants
Mean age (years): 36
Sex (female): 52% |
| Interventions |
Exercise Group 1 (E1): Warm‐up, stretching, progressive exercises, and light aerobic exercise; type = mixed; duration = 4 weeks; dose = low; design = partially individualised; delivery = group; additional intervention = back school
Comparison Group 1 (C1): Other conservative treatment (back school) |
| Outcomes |
Core outcomes reported: Pain (Visual Analogue Scale); function (Oswestry Disability Index)
Follow‐up time periods available for syntheses: 7 weeks (short); 26 weeks (moderate); 104 weeks (long) |
| Notes |
Conflicts of interest: Not reported
Funding source: National Back Pain Association; Oxfordshire locally organised research scheme
Other: None |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Blinding of care provider (performance bias) |
High risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Participants analysed in group allocated (attrition bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Groups similar at baseline (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement is not availablelable |
| Co‐interventions avoided or similar (performance bias) |
High risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Compliance acceptable in all groups (performance bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
| Timing of outcome assessment similar in all groups (detection bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement is not available |
