Table 2.

Risk of bias assessment using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale.

Author	1a	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Score
Sandal et al. [41]	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	7
Antúnez et al. [45]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	7
Turner et al. [44]	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	5
Cherkin et al. [46]	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	7

Criteria: (1) Eligibility criteria specified; (2) Subjects randomly allocated to groups; (3) Concealed allocation; (4) Groups were similar at baseline; (5) Blinding of all subjects; (6) Blinding of all therapists; (7) Blinding of all assessors; (8) Measures obtained from more than 85% of subjects allocated to groups; (9) Subjects received treatment or control condition as allocated, or intention-to-treat analysis; (10) Between-group statistical comparisons reported for at least one outcome; (11) Both point measures and measures of variability were reported. High, high risk of bias; low, low risk of bias. ^aThis item relates to external validity and therefore does not contribute to the total score.