Effects of proprioceptive exercises on pain and function in chronic neck- and low back pain rehabilitation: a systematic literature review

Table 3 Summary of findings of comparison II (joint repositioning training (rPrT) versus inactive controls or other exercise)

Patient or population: adults with non-specific chronic low-back pain; Settings: primary and secondary health care centres
Outcomes	Illustrative means (95% CI)		N (studies)	GRADE	Comments
Outcomes	Control group	Intervention group
Comparison 2.1	Inactive control	rPrT
Pain intensity VAS (0 to 10) scales short-term follow-up	The mean pain intensity ranged across control groups from 4.8 to 7.5 points	The mean pain intensity in the intervention groups was 1.6 points lower (3.6 lower to 0.3 higher)	88(2 studies)	+000very low^1,2,4
Comparison 2.2	Other exercise	rPrT	N (studies)	GRADE	Comments
Pain intensity Numeric Pain Rating (0–10) short-term follow-up	The mean pain intensity of the control group was reduced by 2.8 points.	The mean pain intensity in the intervention group was 0.90 points higher (0.16 lower to 1.96 higher).	58(1 study)	++00 low^2,3,§
Back specific functional status Neck Disability Index (0–50) short-term follow-up	The mean NDI score of the control group was reduced by 8.4 points.	The mean NDI score in the intervention group was 1.50 points higher (2.06 lower to 5.06 higher).	58 (1 study)	++00 low^2,3,§

N = total number of patients; CI = Confidence Interval; ¹Serious limitations in study design (i.e. >25% of participants from studies with high risk of bias); ²Serious imprecision (i.e. total number of participants <300 for each outcome or only one study available for comparison); ³Indirectness of population (e.g. only one study), intervention (applicability) and outcome measures; ⁴Serious inconsistency (i.e. significant statistical heterogeneity or opposite direction of effects). ^§Only one study, consistency cannot be evaluated.
GRADE Working Group grades of evidence.
High quality: Further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect.
Moderate quality: Further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate.
Low quality: Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate.
Very low quality: We are very uncertain about the estimate.

ISSN: 1471-2474