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Review
. 2024 Jul 5;12(13):1340.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare12131340.

Efficacy of Therapeutic Exercise in Reducing Pain in Instrumental Musicians: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Cristina Iglesias-Carrasco  1 , María de-la-Casa-Almeida  2 , Carmen Suárez-Serrano  2 , Maria-Luisa Benítez-Lugo  2 , Esther M Medrano-Sánchez  2
Affiliations
Review

Efficacy of Therapeutic Exercise in Reducing Pain in Instrumental Musicians: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Cristina Iglesias-Carrasco et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

Playing-related pain poses a significant health concern for musicians, often impacting their ability to perform. Therapeutic exercise emerges as a viable approach to alleviate these symptoms, offering a low-cost intervention with minimal side effects. This review seeks to examine and assess the efficacy of therapeutic exercise in reducing pain intensity among instrumental musicians. Three major databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus) were systematically searched from November 2023 to June 2024. The inclusion criteria required studies to be randomized clinical trials focusing on pain intensity in instrumental musicians, published in the last 10 years. Two independent researchers assessed the characteristics and methodological quality of the selected studies. Out of 305 identified studies, 15 underwent full-text reviews, with 5 ultimately included in the analysis. The total participant count was 273, with an average intervention duration of 32.5 min per session, twice weekly for eight weeks. Overall, therapeutic exercise interventions demonstrated favorable effects, with three studies exhibiting good methodological quality. The meta-analysis revealed significant positive results favoring exercise in reducing pain intensity, with positive responses observed across all clinical populations, so therapeutic exercise appears to be an effective approach for reducing pain intensity in musicians experiencing playing-related pain.

Keywords: exercise therapy; instrumentalist musicians; pain; physical activity; physical therapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot illustrating the random effects model for the difference in pain intensity between groups after the intervention. TE: therapeutic exercise [36,37,38,39,40].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot illustrating the fixed effects model for the difference in pain intensity between groups after the intervention. TE: therapeutic exercise [36,37,38,39,40].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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