Table 1.
Studies are in chronological order from oldest to most recent by year of publication.
Fig 1.
Flow diagram for the study selection process.
Fig 2.
Summary of the risk of bias assessment: the review authors’ judgments about each item of risk of bias for each included study.
Table 2.
Subgroup analysis for the effect of potential factors on pain intensity.
Fig 3.
Forest plot of the effect of the breathing exercises and/or thoracic techniques group compared to the control group on the intensity of pain (Morris’ dppc; negative values favor the intervention).
Table 3.
Subgroup analysis for the effect of potential factors on disability score.
Fig 4.
Forest plot of the effect of the breathing exercises and/or thoracic techniques group compared to the control group on the disability score (Morris’ dppc; negative values favor the intervention).
Table 4.
Sensitivity Analysis using any kinds of blinding and studies with low risk of bias.
Fig 5.
Influence analyses of each separate study on the overall estimates of a) Pain intensity b) Disability score.
Fig 6.
Egger’s graphs for determining publication bias in the meta-analysis for: a) Pain intensity b) disability score.
Fig 7.
Funnel plot for determining publication bias in the meta-analysis for: a) Pain intensity b) disability score.
Table 5.
Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation quality of evidence for the primary outcomes.