ReviewChiropractic & manual therapies2021
Reliability and validity of manual palpation for the assessment of patients with low back pain: a systematic and critical review.
Review in Chiropractic & manual therapies, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupoint Sensitivity in Health and Disease: A Systematic Review.Journal of integrative and complementary medicine · 2024Pooled it
- The influence of body painting on L4 spinous process palpation accuracy in novice palpators.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2024Trial
- Static palpation ain't easy: Evaluating palpation precision using a topographical map of the lumbar spine as a reference.PloS one · 2024Trial
- Effect of osteopathic techniques on human resting muscle tone in healthy subjects using myotonometry: a factorial randomized trial.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- [Interlaminar Distance and Bony Landmarks in Lumbar Neuraxial Anesthesia: A Concordance Study].Revista medica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social · 2026Article
- Comparison of palpation and ultrasonography findings in supraspinous ligaments of horses.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- The relation between bulk (external) and internal measures of spinal stiffness.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2025Article
- A Study on the Diagnosis of Lumbar Spinal Malposition in Chuna Manual Therapy Using X-Ray Images Based on Digital Markers.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Review
- Jaw muscle and joint psychophysics-relevance for clinical orofacial pain practice and research. A narrative review.Journal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2025Review
- Shear Wave Elastography for measuring the elastic properties of the Psoas Major muscle: An intra- and inter-examiner reliability study.PloS one · 2025Observational
- The Use and Benefits of Focused Shockwaves for the Diagnosis of Myofascial Pain Syndrome by Examining Myofascial Trigger Points in Low Back Pain.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Patient perspectives on low back pain treatment in primary care: a qualitative study of hopes, expectations, and experiences.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Article
- Is Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment Clinically Superior to Sham or Placebo for Patients with Neck or Low-Back Pain? A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Methodological quality of 100 recent systematic reviews of health-related outcome measurement instruments: an overview of reviews.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2024Review
- Clinical Examination, Diagnosis, and Conservative Treatment of Chronic Low Back Pain: A Narrative Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Quantifying thoracolumbar fascia deformation to discriminate acute low back pain patients and healthy individuals using ultrasound.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The evolution of teaching chiropractic manual skills: part 2 - a narrative review and discussion of the impact of research evidence authored by faculty of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College.The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association · 2024Article
- A Proposed Decision-Making Framework for the Translation of In-Person Clinical Care to Digital Care: Tutorial.JMIR medical education · 2024Article
- A modern way to teach and practice manual therapy.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStatic or motion manual palpation of the low back is commonly used to assess pain location and reproduction in low back pain (LBP) patients. The purpose of this study is to review the reliability and validity of manual palpation used for the assessment of LBP in adults.
methodWe systematically searched five databases from 2000 to 2019. We critically appraised internal validity of studies using QAREL and QUADAS-2 instruments. We stratified results using best-evidence synthesis. Validity studies were classified according to Sackett and Haynes.
resultsWe identified 2023 eligible articles, of which 14 were low risk of bias. Evidence suggests that reliability of soft tissue structures palpation is inconsistent, and reliability of bony structures and joint mobility palpation is poor. We found preliminary evidence that gluteal muscle palpation for tenderness may be valid in differentiating LBP patients with and without radiculopathy.
conclusionReliability of manual palpation tests in the assessment of LBP patients varies greatly. This is problematic because these tests are commonly used by manual therapists and clinicians. Little is known about the validity of these tests; therefore, their clinical utility is uncertain. High quality validity studies are needed to inform the clinical use of manual palpation tests.
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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.