SynthesisSports medicine - open2025
Exercise and Heart Rate Variability in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Sports medicine - open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Combined Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Face-to-Face Physiotherapy in Primary Health Care for Chronic Widespread Pain: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- Review
- Rethinking Pain Assessment: Subjective Scales, Biomarkers, and Multimodal Integration.Journal of pain research · 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
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) is a prevalent condition associated with significant disability. Emerging evidence suggests that autonomic dysfunction, reflected by heart rate variability (HRV), may play a role in the pathophysiology of CMP and could be responsive to exercise interventions. This systematic review aims to evaluate the effects of exercise on HRV in persons with CMP.
methodsA comprehensive search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases from database inception until June 15, 2024. Eligible studies included those examining exercise interventions of ≥ four weeks in adults aged 18 to 65 with CMP, where HRV was assessed both before and after the intervention. Non-experimental study designs and studies focusing exclusively on acute exercise effects were excluded. Two independent reviewers performed data extraction and assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane RoB-2 and ROBINS-I tools. The CERT was used for reporting, and effect sizes for exercise interventions were calculated. Certainty of evidence was assessed using the GRADE framework.
resultsFive randomized and five non-randomized controlled trials were included, involving 277 persons with CMP. There was considerable variability in HRV measurement protocols. The exercise interventions, which included resistance, aerobic, and multi-component training, lasted four to 24 weeks. Significant within-group improvements were found in several HRV measures, especially in linear analyses linked to vagal modulation at rest.
conclusionsWhile evidence suggests the positive influence of exercise on autonomic function in CMP, as indicated by HRV changes, the limited number of high-quality studies warrants cautious interpretation. To better understand the impact of different exercise modalities on HRV and address existing data gaps, future research should implement strict protocols for HRV measurements and consistently adhere to established reporting criteria for exercise interventions.
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.