Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22188790›Full record

ArticleBMC musculoskeletal disorders2011

Avoidable costs of physical treatments for chronic back, neck and shoulder pain within the Spanish National Health Service: a cross-sectional study.

Pedro Serrano-Aguilar, Francisco M Kovacs, Jose M Cabrera-Hernández, Juan M Ramos-Goñi, Lidia García-Pérez

3 registry-linked trialsAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 3 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT03184220 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2017, after this paper: background citation

Treatment of Cervical Syndrome With Myofascial Therapies

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of CadizRan2017 to 2018Enrolled54ConditionsCervical SyndromeArmsPhysiotherapy treatment
NCT03322683 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2018, after this paper: background citation

Vacuum Myofascial Therapy Device for Non-specific Neck Pain. A Single Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of CadizRan2018 to 2018Enrolled38ConditionsCervical SyndromeArmsPhysiotherapy treatment with physium device., Conventional physiotherapy treatmen
NCT03537638 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2018, after this paper: background citation

Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness of a Multicomponent Strategy to Implement a Clinical Practice Guideline and Improve Health Outcomes in People With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

TypeinterventionalSponsorServicio Canario de SaludRan2018 to 2020Enrolled237ConditionsSystemic Lupus ErythematosusArmsMulticomponent intervention
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. The effect of exercıse program on exercıse perceptıon and fear of movement ın low back paın.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 · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Pedro Serrano-AguilarHealth Technology Assessment Unit, Canary Islands Health Service, Government of the Canary Islands, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. pserrano@gobiernodecanarias.org
Francisco M Kovacs
Jose M Cabrera-Hernández
Juan M Ramos-Goñi
Lidia García-Pérez

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundBack, neck and shoulder pain are the most common causes of occupational disability. They reduce health-related quality of life and have a significant economic impact. Many different forms of physical treatment are routinely used. The objective of this study was to estimate the cost of physical treatments which, despite the absence of evidence supporting their effectiveness, were used between 2004 and 2007 for chronic and non-specific neck pain (NP), back pain (BP) and shoulder pain (SP), within the Spanish National Health Service in the Canary Islands (SNHSCI).

methodsChronic patients referred from the SNHSCI to private physical therapy centres for NP, BP or SP, between 2004 and 2007, were identified. The cost of providing physical therapies to these patients was estimated. Systematic reviews (SRs) and clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for NP, BP and SP available in the same period were searched for and rated according to the Oxman and AGREE criteria, respectively. Those rated positively for ≥70% of the criteria, were used to categorise physical therapies as Effective; Ineffective; Inconclusive; and Insufficiently Assessed. The main outcome was the cost of physical therapies included in each of these categories.

results8,308 chronic cases of NP, 4,693 of BP and 5,035 of SP, were included in this study. Among prescribed treatments, 39.88% were considered Effective (physical exercise and manual therapy with mobilization); 23.06% Ineffective; 13.38% Inconclusive, and 23.66% Insufficiently Assessed. The total cost of treatments was € 5,107,720. Effective therapies accounted for € 2,069,932.

conclusionsSixty percent of the resources allocated by the SNHSCI to fund physical treatment for NP, BP and SP in private practices are spent on forms of treatment proven to be ineffective, or for which there is no evidence of effectiveness.

Indexed as

Health Care CostsAdultAgedBack PainChronic PainCost SavingsEvidence-Based MedicineFemaleHealth ExpendituresHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeck PainPain MeasurementPhysical Therapy ModalitiesShoulder Pain

Identifiers

PMID22188790
PMCPMC3297536

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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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.