SynthesisSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2022
Attempting to Separate Placebo Effects from Exercise in Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 12 papers, 2 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- How do psychologically based interventions for chronic musculoskeletal pain work? A systematic review and meta-analysis of specific moderators and mediators of treatment.Clinical psychology review · 2022Pooled it
- The importance of selecting the correct site to apply spinal manipulation when treating spinal pain: Myth or reality? A systematic review.Scientific reports · 2021Pooled it
- Effectiveness, Mediators and Moderators of Remote Live vs. Pre-Recorded Physical Exercise Training for Chronic Low Back Pain.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Letter to the "The Effects of Pilates-Based Tele-Exercise on Physical and Mental Health in Primary Dysmenorrhea": Methodological Considerations on the Effects of Pilates-Based Tele-Exercise for Primary Dysmenorrhea: Beyond Statistical Significance.The journal of obstetrics and gynaecology research · 2026Article
- The effect of exercise on clinical pain: a systematic umbrella review and meta-meta-analysis.Pain reports · 2026Article
- Design of a Health Education Program to Manage Chronic Neck Pain: Protocol for a Development Study.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- Oxytocin Modulation in Mindfulness-Based Pain Management for Chronic Pain.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Understanding how therapeutic exercise prescription changes outcomes important to patients with persistent non-specific low back pain: a realist review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2024Article
- The Placebo Effect in Exercise and Mental Health Research.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2024Review
- Current and future advances in practice: tendinopathies of the shoulder.Rheumatology advances in practice · 2023Review
- Response to Comment on: "Attempting to Separate Placebo Effects from Exercise in Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis".Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPain is the most disabling characteristic of musculoskeletal disorders, and while exercise is promoted as an important treatment modality for chronic musculoskeletal conditions, the relative contribution of the specific effects of exercise training, placebo effects and non-specific effects such as natural history are not clear. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the relative contribution of these factors to better understand the true effect of exercise training for reducing pain in chronic primary musculoskeletal pain conditions.
designSystematic review with meta-analysis DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, EMBASE and CENTRAL from inception to February 2021. Reference lists of prior systematic reviews. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials of interventions that used exercise training compared to placebo, true control or usual care in adults with chronic primary musculoskeletal pain. The review was registered prospectively with PROSPERO (CRD42019141096).
resultsWe identified 79 eligible trials for quantitative analysis. Pairwise meta-analysis showed very low-quality evidence (GRADE criteria) that exercise training was not more effective than placebo (g [95% CI]: 0.94 [- 0.17, 2.06], P = 0.098, I
conclusionsThere is very low-quality evidence that exercise training is not more effective than non-exercise placebo treatments in chronic pain. Exercise training and the associated clinical encounter are more effective than true control or standard medical care for reductions in pain for adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain, with very low quality of evidence based on GRADE criteria.
Indexed as
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.