SynthesisJournal of orthopaedic surgery and research2025
Physical therapy versus conventional treatment for grade I and II acute ankle sprains: trial sequential analysis and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research, 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.
- Multimodal pain management in foot and ankle surgery and trauma: a narrative review.Musculoskeletal surgery · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThis systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of physiotherapy compared with conventional therapies for grade I and II acute ankle sprains.
methodsRandomized controlled trials were identified through a comprehensive search of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases. Eligibility criteria were defined using the PICOS framework. Analyses included forest plot analysis, subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, publication bias analysis, and Trial Sequential Analysis (TSA) using Review Manager (version 5.4), StataMP 17, and TSA 0.9.5.10 beta software.
resultsTen RCTs involving 565 participants met the inclusion criteria. The physical therapy group had significantly lower post-treatment visual analog scale (VAS) scores for pain compared to the conventional treatment group (weighted mean difference [WMD] = -0.46, 95% CI = -0.90 to -0.01, P = 0.04). On subgroup analysis, VAS scores at rest were also significantly lower in the physical therapy group compared to the conventional treatment group (WMD = -0.34, 95% CI = -0.67 to -0.01, P = 0.04).
conclusionsPhysical therapy may offer superior pain relief compared with conventional treatment for grade I and II acute ankle sprains. Further high-quality, adequately powered RCTs are warranted to obtain more robust evidence. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: level 1. REGISTRATION: CRD42025640304.
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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.