SynthesisFrontiers in medicine2025
Effectiveness of physical therapies for patients with knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Frontiers in medicine, 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
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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.
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Physical therapy offers a useful option for management of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and this study aims to summarize the latest evidence on the effectiveness of variable physical therapies. Methods: We considered randomized trials of patients with KOA that compared any of the following interventions for treatment of osteoarthritis pain: physical therapies, general nursing, placebo. We performed frequentist random-effect network meta-analyses to summarize the evidence and applied the Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis frameworks to rate the certainty of evidence, calculate the treatment effects, categorize interventions, and present the findings. Results: The search identified 74 eligible RCTs, enrolling 3,707 participants. TENS demonstrated the largest reduction of NRS (MD, -2.73; 95% CI, -5.20 to -0.26) and VAS pain at rest (MD, -2.87; 95% CI, -4.87 to -0.87). Moderate to low-level evidence established laser as most effective for improving VAS for pain during walking at <1 month (MD, -2.50; 95% CI, -3.88 to -1.11) and 1-3 months (MD, -2.49; 95% CI, -4.51 to -0.48), and neuromuscular exercise (MD, -1.77; 95% CI, -3.14 to -0.39) at 3 months. For WOMAC total scores at <1 month, 1-3 months, and >3 months, shockwave (MD, -9.56; 95% CI, -16.71 to -2.41; low-level confidence), aquatic sports (MD, -16.53; 95% CI, -30.74 to -2.31; low-level confidence), and shockwave (MD, -30.02; 95% CI, -40.39 to -19.65, moderate-level confidence) respectively, demonstrated the greatest improvements. Conclusion: Physical therapies exhibited varying efficacy profiles in management of KOA with most being supported by moderate-to-low levels evidence, warranting further studies to better establish their effectiveness. Systematic review registration: Identifier PROSPERO CRD42023458296.
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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.