Management of lumbar zygapophysial (facet) joint pain

Table 4 Methodological quality assessment of randomized trials utilizing Interventional Pain Management techniques - Quality Appraisal of Reliability and Risk of Bias Assessment criteria

	Manchikanti et al[102]	Carette et al[103]	Fuchs et al[104]	Nath et al[105]	van Wijk et al[97]	van Kleef et al[99]	Tekin et al[96]	Civelek et al[108]	Dobrogowski et al[98]	Cohen et al[109]	Ribeiro et al[107]	Moon et al[100]	Lakemeier et al[101]	Yun et al[106]
I Trial design and guidance reporting
(1) Consort or spirit	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2
II Design factors
(2) Type and design of trial	2	3	2	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
(3) Setting/physician	2	1	1	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1
(4) Imaging	3	3	2	3	3	3	3	3	2	3	3	3	3	3
(5) Sample size	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	2	2	2	2
(6) Statistical methodology	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
III Patient factors
(7) Inclusiveness of Population
For facet joint interventions:	2	1	0	2	1	1	1	0	1	1	0	2	1	0
(8) Duration of pain	2	2	1	2	2	3	2	0	2	0	0	2	2	0
(9) Previous treatments	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	2	2	1
(10) Duration of follow-up with appropriate interventions	3	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	1	1	2	1
IV Outcomes
(11) Outcomes assessment criteria for significant improvement	4	4	2	4	4	2	2	2	2	0	2	2	2	1
(12) Analysis of all randomized participants in the groups	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	2	2
(13) Description of drop out rate	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
(14) Similarity of groups at baseline for important prognostic indicators	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
(15) Role of co-interventions	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
V Randomization
(16) Method of Randomization	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
VI Allocation concealment
(17) Concealed treatment allocation	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	2	2	2	2
VII Blinding
(18) Patient blinding	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	0	1	1	1	0
(19) Care provider blinding	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0
(20) Outcome assessor blinding	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
VIII Conflicts of interest
(21) Funding and sponsorship	2	3	1	2	0	3	2	0	0	2	2	2	2	1
(22) Conflicts of interest	3	3	1	3	0	3	2	0	0	2	3	3	3	0
Total	45	40	26	42	36	40	37	28	29	28	32	32	38	37

Source: Manchikanti et al[79].