Exercise treatments for chronic low back pain: a network meta-analysis

Objectives: This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows:. The objectives of this systematic review, conducted using a collaborative review model, are to:. Assess the effectiveness of exercise treatment (overall) in adults with chronic non-specific low back pain on important individual health outcomes: pain, functional limitations, health-related quality of life, depression, and adverse effects versus comparison treatments: (a) placebo, sham, or attention control, (b) no trial treatment (including waiting lists, control groups described as having no treatment provided, usual/normal care not controlled by the trial available to all treatment groups, or when the exercise and comparison groups receive the same co-interventions, allowing the effect of exercise treatment to be isolated), and (c) other conservative treatments (eight categories). Estimate the treatment effects and associated uncertainty for comparisons of different specific types of exercise treatment in adults with chronic non-specific low back pain to each other, and to each comparison treatment, using direct and indirect evidence with network meta-analysis. Estimate the treatment effects and associated uncertainty for comparisons of treatments composed of different exercise type categories, design, delivery, dose, and additional treatment components, and their combinations, using direct and indirect evidence with component network meta-analysis. Copyright © 2023 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.