Boosting Treatment Outcomes via the Patient-Practitioner Relationship, Treatment Beliefs, or Therapeutic Setting. A Systematic Review With Meta-analysis of Contextual Effects in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain whether manipulating contextual effects (eg, interaction with patients, or beliefs about treatments) boosted the outcomes of nonpharmacological and nonsurgical treatments for chronic primary musculoskeletal pain. DESIGN: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials DATA SOURCES: We searched for trials in 6 databases, citation tracking, and clinical trials registers. We included trials that compared treatments with enhanced contextual effects with the same treatments without enhancement in adults with chronic primary musculoskeletal pain. DATA SYNTHESIS: The outcomes of interest were pain intensity, physical functioning, global ratings of improvement, quality of life, depression, anxiety, and sleep. We evaluated risk of bias and certainty of the evidence using Cochrane Risk of Bias tool 2.0 and the GRADE approach, respectively. RESULTS: Of 17 637 records, we included 10 trials with 990 participants and identified 5 ongoing trials. The treatments were acupuncture, education, exercise training, and physical therapy. The contextual effects that were improved in the enhanced treatments were patient-practitioner relationship, patient beliefs and characteristics, therapeutic setting/environment, and treatment characteristics. Our analysis showed that improving contextual effects in nonpharmacological and nonsurgical treatments may not make much difference on pain intensity (mean difference [MD], −1.77; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −8.71, 5.16; k = 7 trials; N = 719 participants; Scale: 0-100; GRADE: Low) or physical functioning (MD, −0.27; 95% CI: −1.02, 0.49; 95% prediction interval [PI]: −2.04, 1.51; k = 6; N = 567; Scale: 0-10; GRADE: Low) in the short term and at later follow-ups. Sensitivity analyses revealed similar findings. CONCLUSION: While evidence gaps exist, per current evidence, it may not be possible to achieve meaningful benefit for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain by manipulating the context of nonpharmacological and nonsurgical treatments. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2024;54(7):440-456. Epub 30 April 2024 doi:10.2519/jospt.2024.12259