Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34384421›Full record

SynthesisBMC musculoskeletal disorders2021

Effect of using knee valgus brace on pain and activity level over different time intervals among patients with medial knee OA: systematic review.

Huda Alfatafta, David Onchonga, Mahmoud Alfatafta, Lu Zhang, Imre Boncz, Szimonetta Lohner, Bálint Molics

Open access · goldAbstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
2.7field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
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

7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Huda AlfataftaDoctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Vörösmarty utca 4, 7621, Pécs, Hungary. huda.alfatafta@etk.pte.hu.
David OnchongaDoctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Vörösmarty utca 4, 7621, Pécs, Hungary.
Mahmoud AlfataftaBiomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
Lu ZhangDoctoral School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Vörösmarty utca 4, 7621, Pécs, Hungary.
Imre BonczFaculty of Health Sciences, Institute for Health Insurance, University of Pecs, Pécs, Hungary.
Szimonetta LohnerClinical Center, Medical School, Cochrane Hungary, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
Bálint MolicsInstitute of Physiotherapy and Sport Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
University of Pecs · HUUniversity of Strathclyde · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Knee valgus brace is one of the accepted conservative interventions for patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis to correct the knee varus and increase functional activity level. Nevertheless, comprehensive overview of the effects of using this brace on self-reported pain activity level over time is not available. Thus, this study aimed to systematically review the effect of using this brace on pain and activity levels in the last 20 years in patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis.

methodsFive databases were searched to find articles from the year 2000 to the end of November 2020: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Two reviewers independently evaluated the available articles for eligibility and assessed quality. The risk of bias in each study was assessed by two reviewers independently according to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology tool (STROBE) for the non-randomized controlled studies and the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for the randomized controlled studies.

resultsSeven randomized controlled studies and 17 cohort studies (in total 579 participants) were included in the systematic review. Most of these studies found using a knee valgus brace effective in reducing pain and improving activity level over different time intervals. The majority of the included studies (14 studies) evaluated the impact of the brace for a considerably short-term (less than 6 months). Thus, limited evidence is available on the long-term use of the knee valgus brace and its associated complications.

conclusionThe knee valgus brace is an effective conservative intervention to improve the quality of life and reduce pain during daily activities for some patients. However, the long term of using this brace is still not very convenient, and the patients who benefit most from using the brace should be identified with high methodological quality studies.

Indexed as

Osteoarthritis, KneeQuality of LifeBracesHumansKnee JointObservational Studies as TopicPainActivity levelKnee-valgus bracePain

Identifiers

PMID34384421
PMCPMC8362244
OpenAlexW3188130528

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.