ReviewInternational urogynecology journal2026
Physiotherapeutic Management of Painful Bladder Syndrome/Interstitial Cystitis: A Systematic Review of the Literature.
Review in International urogynecology journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introduction and hypothesisPainful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis (PBS/IC) is a chronic pelvic pain condition with unclear etiology that significantly affects quality of life. Although physiotherapeutic interventions are considered low-risk conservative options and may be incorporated into multimodal management in selected patients, evidence regarding their effectiveness remains limited. This review aimed to evaluate the effects of physiotherapy on pain and urinary symptoms in PBS/IC.
methodsThis systematic review followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and was registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42024539744). A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed and Web of Science up to August 2025 without language restrictions. Titles and abstracts were screened using the Rayyan AI. Risk of bias was assessed with RoB-2 and ROBINS-I tools, and the quality of evidence was rated using GRADE criteria. Given the heterogeneity of the included studies, a narrative synthesis was conducted.
resultsFourteen studies involving 609 participants were included-eight randomized controlled trials and six prospective single-arm studies. Common interventions included electrotherapy techniques such as extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT), posterior tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS), and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), along with manual therapies like myofascial release and Thiele massage. Most studies reported short-term improvements in pain and urinary symptoms, though long-term results were inconsistent. Many studies had significant methodological limitations and a high risk of bias. Moderate-quality evidence suggests that ESWT may provide short-term pain relief, while low-quality evidence indicates potential benefits from manual therapies, bladder training, and multimodal approaches.
conclusionsPhysiotherapeutic interventions may provide short-term symptom relief in PBS/IC. However, given the limited quality of existing research, more rigorous, long-term randomized trials are needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42159729What Socratic 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 Socratic graph.