Table 1.
Quality metrics of included studies.
| Study | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Overall PEDro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simo et al. (1993)8 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 11 |
| Contacos et al. (1998)28 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | 10 |
| Battula et al. (2000)30 | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 |
| Twickler et al. (2000)29 | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 |
| Sheu et al. (2001)31 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | 10 |
| Wilmink et al. (2001)32 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 11 |
| Dane-Stewart et al. (2002)33 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 11 |
| Guerin et al. (2002)34 | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 |
| Schaefer et al. (2002)36 | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | Y | Y | 6 |
| Parhofer et al. (2003)12 | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Verseyden et al. (2003)37 | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 |
| Castro Cabezas et al. (2004)38 | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 |
| van Wijk et al. (2005)39 | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 |
| Olijhoek et al. (2008)40 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 11 |
| Arao et al. (2009)35 | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 |
| Hajer et al. (2009)41 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 11 |
| Nagashima et al. (2011)43 | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 9 |
| Lee et al. (2012)42 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | – | Y | 5 |
| Mora-Rodriguez et al. (2020)13 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | 10 |
| Alvarez-Jimenez et al. (2021)14 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | – | Y | Y | 10 |
| Gill et al. (2004)44 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Zhang et al. (2004)45 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Zhang et al. (2006)46 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Gill et al. (2007)47 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Zhang et al. (2007)20 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Burton et al. (2008)48 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Mestek et al. (2008)49 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Miyashita et al. (2008)50 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Plaisance et al. (2008)9 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Miyashita et al. (2010)51 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Ho et al. (2011)52 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | Y | Y | 6 |
| Hurren et al. (2011)53 | Y | – | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 |
| Hurren et al. (2011)54 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | – | Y | 5 |
| Davitt et al. (2013)58 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | – | Y | 5 |
| Freese et al. (2015)55 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Emerson et al. (2016)56 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Kashiwabara et al. (2018)57 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | Y | Y | 6 |
| Mora-Rodriguez et al. (2020)13 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | Y | Y | 6 |
| Alvarez-Jimenez et al. (2021)14 | Y | Y | – | Y | – | – | – | Y | – | – | Y | 5 |
Notes: Items in the PEDro scale: 1 = eligibility criteria were specified; 2 = subjects were randomly allocated to groups; 3 = allocation was concealed; 4 = the groups were similar at baseline; 5 = there was blinding of all subjects; 6 = there was blinding of all therapists who administered the therapy; 7 = there was blinding of all assessors who measured at least 1 key outcome; 8 = measures of at least 1 key outcome were obtained from more than 85% of the subjects initially allocated to groups; 9 = all subjects for whom outcome measures were available received the treatment or control condition as allocated or, where this was not the case, data for at least 1 key outcome were analyzed by “intention to treat”; 10 = the results of between-group statistical comparisons are reported for at least 1 key outcome; 11 = the study provides both point measures and measures of variability for at least 1 key outcome.
Abbreviations: PEDro = Physiotherapy Evidence Database; Y = yes.