Effectiveness of physiotherapy for XXXX : a systematic review.

@entity1 @entity23 @entity2633
AIM: To evaluate the available evidence of the effectiveness of physiotherapy for @entity2633 of the elbow. METHOD: @entity23 ( @entity23 ) identified by a highly sensitive search strategy in six databases in combination with reference checking. Two independent reviewers selected @entity23 that included a physiotherapy intervention, @entity1 with @entity2633 , and at least one clinically relevant outcome measure. No language restrictions were made. Methodological quality was independently assessed by two blinded reviewers. A best evidence synthesis, including a quantitative and qualitative analysis, was conducted, weighting the studies with respect to their internal validity, statistical significance, clinical relevance, and statistical power. RESULTS: 23 @entity23 were included in the review, evaluating the effects of lasertherapy, ultrasound treatment, electrotherapy, and exercises and mobilisation techniques. Fourteen studies satisfied at least 50% of the internal validity criteria. Except for ultrasound, pooling of data from @entity23 was not possible because of insufficient data, or clinical or statistical heterogeneity. The pooled estimate of the treatment effects of two studies on ultrasound compared to placebo ultrasound, showed statistically significant and clinically relevant differences in favour of ultrasound. There is insufficient evidence either to demonstrate benefit or lack of effect of lasertherapy, electrotherapy, exercises and mobilisation techniques for @entity2633 . CONCLUSIONS: Despite the large number of studies, there is still insufficient evidence for most physiotherapy interventions for @entity2633 due to contradicting results, insufficient power, and the low number of studies per intervention. Only for ultrasound, weak evidence for efficacy was found. More better designed, conducted and reported @entity23 are needed.
