Trial reportBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2005
Randomised trial of a brief physiotherapy intervention compared with usual physiotherapy for neck pain patients: outcomes and patients' preference.
Trial report in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03165669 (Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial With Cross-over on the Efficacy of Cervical Pillows and an Educational Intervention in Patients With Chronic Non-specific Neck Pain), which is not on this map. Cited by 39 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial With Cross-over on the Efficacy of Cervical Pillows and an Educational Intervention in Patients With Chronic Non-specific Neck Pain
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 143 citations in OpenAlex.
- Telerehabilitation for neck pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Massage for neck pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of Treatment Preference in Randomized Controlled Trials: Systematic Review of the Literature and Meta-Analysis.The patient · 2019Pooled it
- Manipulation and Mobilization for Treating Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis for an Appropriateness Panel.Pain physician · 2019Pooled it
- Management of neck pain and associated disorders: A clinical practice guideline from the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2016Guideline
- Cognitive-behavioural treatment for subacute and chronic neck pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Electrotherapy for neck pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- A systematic review of the unit costs of allied health and community services used by older people in Australia.BMC health services research · 2013Pooled it
- Psychological therapies for the management of chronic pain (excluding headache) in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2012Pooled it
- Patient education for neck pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2012Pooled it
- PNF and manual therapy treatment results of patients with cervical spine osteoarthritis.Journal of back and musculoskeletal rehabilitation · 2017Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of spinal manipulative therapy, supervised exercise, and home exercise for older adults with chronic neck pain.The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society · 2016Trial
- Trial
- Cognitive-Behavioral-Based Physical Therapy for Patients With Chronic Pain Undergoing Lumbar Spine Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.The journal of pain · 2016Trial
- Trial
- Chronic neck pain and treatment of cognitive and behavioural factors: results of a randomised controlled clinical trial.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2012Trial
- No clear influence of preference bias on satisfaction and early functional outcome in resurfacing hip arthroplasty.Acta orthopaedica · 2011Trial
- The relationship between patient and practitioner expectations and preferences and clinical outcomes in a trial of exercise and acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2010Trial
- Assessment of preferences for treatment: validation of a measure.Research in nursing & health · 2009Trial
- The efficacy of intermittent cervical traction in patents with chronic neck pain.Clinical rheumatology · 2008Trial
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesFirstly, to compare the effectiveness of a brief physiotherapy intervention with "usual" physiotherapy for patients with neck pain. Secondly, to evaluate the effect of patients' preferences on outcome.
designNon-inferiority randomised controlled trial eliciting preferences independently of randomisation.
settingPhysiotherapy departments in a community setting in Yorkshire and north Lincolnshire.
participants268 patients (mean age 48 years) with subacute and chronic neck pain, who were referred by their general practitioner and randomly assigned to a brief physiotherapy intervention (one to three sessions) using cognitive behaviour principles to encourage self management and return to normal function or usual physiotherapy, at the discretion of the physiotherapist concerned.
main outcome measuresThe Northwick Park neck pain questionnaire (NPQ), a specific measure of functional disability resulting from neck pain. Also, the short form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire, a generic, health related, quality of life measure; and the Tampa scale for kinesophobia, a measure of fear and avoidance of movement.
resultsAt 12 months, patients allocated to usual physiotherapy had a small but significant improvement in NPQ scores compared with patients in the brief intervention group (mean difference 1.99, 95% confidence interval 0.45 to 3.52; P = 0.01). Although the result shows a significant inferiority of the intervention, the confidence interval shows that the effect could be in the non-inferiority range for the brief intervention (below 1.2 points of NPQ score). Patients who preferred the brief intervention and received this treatment had similar outcomes to patients receiving usual physiotherapy.
conclusionsUsual physiotherapy may be only marginally better than a brief physiotherapy intervention for neck pain. Patients with a preference for the brief intervention may do at least as well with this approach. Additional training for the physiotherapists in cognitive behaviour techniques might improve this approach further.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.