ReviewArchives of rehabilitation research and clinical translation2025
Impact of Manual Therapy on Instrumentalist Musicians With Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review.
Review in Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translation, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Mobilization-Based Exercise Frequency and Dynamic Postural Control in Orchestra Musicians: An Exploratory Controlled Intervention Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the effects of manual therapy on playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) in instrumentalist musicians. Data Sources: PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE were searched from inception until December 17, 2024. Study Selection: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), noncontrolled trials, case reports evaluating the effects of any manual therapy on PRMDs of instrumentalists were selected. Data Extraction: Two independent authors extracted data and assessed quality using different risk of bias assessment tools, depending on study design. Data Synthesis: Of the 529 retrieved titles, 9 were included: 3 articles on 2 RCTs (one with 69 string/wind/percussion players and the other with 30 wind players, aged 18-30y), 1 case series (689 instrumentalists), 1 pre-post trial (32 string/wind/keyboard/percussion/other instrumentalists, aged 18-30y), and 4 case reports (4 string/wind/keyboard players, aged 25-64y). The first RCT showed significantly reduced pain and disability after soft tissue and mobilization techniques along with postural exercises versus postural exercises alone in temporomandibular dysfunction of wind instrument students. The other RCT reported immediate and medium-term significant pain reduction after Tuina versus sham Tuina in PRMDs in professional musicians. The case series, pre-post study, and 1 case report were of low-very low quality, while 3 case reports were of good quality. However, it should be noted that support for treatment was very limited; both RCTs were underpowered and had a high risk of bias, whereas the evidence from the other studies was limited by low quality and/or design. Heterogeneity did not allow for meta-analysis. Conclusions: The evidence supporting manual therapy for PMRDs in instrumentalists is scarce and of low quality. High-quality RCTs are needed to investigate the risks and benefits of these interventions.
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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.