| Study characteristics |
| Methods |
Study design: RCT (ACTRN12611000229976)
Setting: Australia, general population
Exercise groups: 2
Comparison groups: 0 |
| Participants |
Number of participants: 64 (E1 = 32, E2 = 32)
Chronic LBP duration: 10.3 years (long)
Neurological/radicular symptoms: No participants
Mean age (years): 36
Sex (female): 62% |
| Interventions |
Exercise Group 1 (E1): Pilates; type = Pilates; duration = 8 weeks; dose = high; design = standardised; delivery = group; additional intervention = not specified
Exercise Group 2 (E2): Stationary cycling; type = aerobic; duration = 8 weeks; dose = high; design = partially individualised; delivery = group; additional intervention = not specified |
| Outcomes |
Core outcomes reported: Pain (Visual Analogue Scale); function (Oswestry Disability Index)
Follow‐up time periods available for syntheses: 8 weeks (short); 26 weeks (moderate) |
| Notes |
Conflicts of interest: None to declare
Funding source: No funding received
Other: Information modified for author contact |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Participants were randomly assigned in blocks of eight with an equal number of participants assigned to each group. |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Low risk |
The allocation sequence was concealed from researchers involved in enrolling and assessing participants. |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
To reduce expectation bias, participants were blinded to the use of different modalities in the trial. |
| Blinding of care provider (performance bias) |
High risk |
Assumed not possible |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
To reduce expectation bias, participants were blinded to the use of different modalities in the trial. |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
See Figure 1 |
| Participants analysed in group allocated (attrition bias) |
Low risk |
Data were analysed using SPSS version 20 (IBM, New York, NY) with “intention‐to‐treat” principles. |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement was not available. |
| Groups similar at baseline (selection bias) |
Low risk |
No between‐group differences were observed at baseline for demographics and self‐report scores (Table 2). |
| Co‐interventions avoided or similar (performance bias) |
Low risk |
Author contact: changed to yes, though at six months follow‐up some participants from each group reported regular training using the other exercise. |
| Compliance acceptable in all groups (performance bias) |
Low risk |
Specific trunk exercise group attendance was 21.8 ± 1.9 out of the 24 sessions and stationary cycling group attendance was 19.0 ± 4.2 sessions. |
| Timing of outcome assessment similar in all groups (detection bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement was not available. |
