Effect of differentiating exercise guidance based on a patient's level of low back pain in primary care: a mixed-methods systematic review protocol

Jens Erik Jorgensen, Tamana Afzali, Allan Riis

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)
308 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Low back pain (LBP) is one of the health conditions that lead to the most disability worldwide. Guidelines aimed at management of LBP recommend non-invasive and non-pharmacological management, including patient education, advice to stay active and exercise therapy; however, the guidelines offer no recommendation as to the allowable level of pain during exercise or how specific levels of pain should be reflected in the stage and progression of exercises or activities. The purpose of this review is to study the effect of differentiation of exercise guidance based on the level of LBP in patients in primary care.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A systematic search will be performed on PubMed, EMBASE, The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsycINFO, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDRO), Cochrane and PROSPERO from their inception until September 2017. Published peer-reviewed human experimental and observational studies with quantitative or qualitative designs will be included. Two independent reviewers will identify papers by reviewing titles and abstracts. Papers passing the initial selection will be appraised by two reviewers, based on their full texts. Furthermore, the reference lists of included studies will be snowballed for identification of other relevant studies. Data will be extracted using a standard extraction sheet by two independent reviewers. Disagreements will be resolved by discussion and consensus with a third reviewer. The methodological quality of studies will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation risk of bias tool, or the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. Results will be reported narratively. Search histories will be documented on EndNote X8 (Clarivate Analytics).

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval for this review was not required as primary data will not be collected. The results will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed international journal and conference presentations.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42017074880.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere019742
JournalBMJ Open
Volume8
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)e019742
Number of pages6
ISSN2044-6055
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Keywords

  • Exercise Therapy
  • Low Back Pain
  • Pain Management
  • Primary Care

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