ReviewEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2026
Is therapeutic exercise as a standalone intervention effective in reducing kinesiophobia in adults with nonspecific chronic low back pain? A systematic review and meta-analysis with meta-regression.
Review in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 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
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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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeKinesiophobia is a psychosocial factor associated with pain persistence and disability in individuals with nonspecific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP). Although exercise therapy is commonly recommended, its isolated effect on kinesiophobia remains unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of standalone exercise in reducing kinesiophobia in adults with NSCLBP.
methodsA systematic search was conducted in MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus without date or language restrictions. Randomized controlled trials including adults with NSCLBP (≥3 months) receiving standalone exercise were eligible. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool, and certainty of evidence was evaluated using GRADE. Random-effects meta-analyses calculated mean differences (MD) and standardized mean differences (SMD). Meta-regression explored heterogeneity.
resultsEight randomized controlled trials involving 854 participants were included. Studies presented some concerns regarding risk of bias, and certainty of evidence was rated as low. Standalone exercise significantly reduced kinesiophobia compared with passive controls and usual care (MD = -5.38; 95% CI -7.63 to -3.13; SMD = -1.03), exceeding the minimal clinically important difference. However, considerable heterogeneity was observed (I² ≈ 94%), and meta-regression did not identify significant moderators. These findings were exploratory and limited by the small number of studies.
conclusionStandalone exercise may reduce kinesiophobia in adults with NSCLBP; however, heterogeneity, methodological concerns, and low-certainty evidence limit confidence in the pooled effect estimate. Therefore, the observed effect should be interpreted as an overall trend rather than a consistent effect across populations and interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42730933What 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.