SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2025
Effect of Digital Exercise Therapy on the Pain and Physical Function of Patients With Osteoarthritis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of telemedicine-delivered exercise interventions in older adult patients with osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- AI-Enabled Telerehabilitation for Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain: Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR formative research · 2026Trial
- Effects of Non-Immersive Virtual Reality Exercise on Self-Reported Pain and Mechanical Hyperalgesia in Older Adults with Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Trial
- Individuals' perceptions and experiences of mHealth for home-based rehabilitation in knee osteoarthritis: A qualitative study.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2026Article
- Exercise therapy-associated changes in Periostin (POSTN) osteoarthritis are linked to Hippo-YAP signaling.Molecular biology reports · 2026Article
- Osteoarthritis: Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment.MedComm · 2026Review
- Patient perceptions of remotely-delivered exercise services for osteoarthritis: A cross-sectional study in Hong Kong.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2026Article
- Locomotive Syndrome Digital Therapeutics Provided via a Smartphone App: Proof-of-Concept Single-Group Trial Study.JMIR aging · 2026Article
- Exploring the bidirectional temporal association between daily knee pain and physical activity in people with knee osteoarthritis: An exploratory smartwatch study.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2026Article
- Advances in rehabilitation for bone and joint pain: a critical narrative review of evidence, gaps, and future directions.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Breaking Down Osteoarthritis: Exploring Inflammatory and Mechanical Signaling Pathways.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOsteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative bone and joint disease that significantly impacts patients' quality of life and mental health, while also imposing a substantial economic burden on society. However, access to rehabilitation for patients with OA is challenging upon hospital discharge. Digital exercise therapy represents a promising telemedicine strategy for enhancing the management of OA, but its effect on OA is not yet clear.
objectiveThis study aimed to systematically evaluate the therapeutic effects of digital exercise therapy on pain and physical function in patients with OA.
methodsDatabases including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus were searched for randomized controlled trials on using digital exercise therapy for OA until October 25, 2023. The primary outcomes included the measures of pain scores or physical function scores immediately after the intervention and at full follow-up. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale. Relevant data were extracted, and a meta-analysis was performed using RevMan5.3 software (Cochrane Collaboration).
resultsA total of 9 studies with 1604 patients were included in the final meta-analysis. Compared with the conventional treatment group, digital exercise therapy significantly reduced numerical rating scale pain scores (mean difference [MD]=-1.07, 95% CI -1.35 to -0.78; P<.001) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index physical function scores (MD=-2.39, 95% CI -3.68 to -1.10; P<.001) in patients with OA immediately after the intervention. However, follow-up results revealed no statistically significant difference in numerical rating scale pain scores (MD=-0.20, 95% CI -0.59 to 0.20; P=.34), while Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index physical function scores showed a significant improvement in the digital exercise therapy group compared with the control group (MD=-1.89, 95% CI -3.52 to -0.26; P=.02). These findings suggest that digital exercise therapy provides immediate benefits for both pain and physical function in patients with OA, with sustained improvements in physical function observed during follow-up, though pain relief may not persist long term.
conclusionsDigital exercise therapy can alleviate the pain and improve the physical function in patients with OA and can be used as an auxiliary means in the rehabilitation treatment of OA. It provides great convenience for patients with OA who need long-term treatment, allowing them to exercise at home for rehabilitation training.
trial registrationPROSPERO CRD42023484819; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42023484819.
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.