HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Verhagen, A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Verhagen, A.

Author Response:

They mention that they found more relevant studies in their own review¹ compared with ours. We do not understand their remark, because we found 3 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 10 controlled clinical trials (CCTs), whereas they found no RCTs and 7 CCTs.

Indeed, Negrini and Romano are right that, according to the Cochrane Back Review Group, searching EMBASE is advisable. In the Netherlands, it is difficult to perform a search in EMBASE because it is available at only one university in the country. Contrary to Negrini and Romano's findings, our experience is that a search in EMBASE seldom results in trials that are not located in other databases or via reference checking.

For feasibility reasons, therefore, we did not perform an EMBASE search, but indeed we cannot be absolutely sure that we might not have missed studies this way. We excluded the study of Stone et al² mainly because of the retrospective matching of the controls; this seemed, to us, very selective.

Because we may want to do an update of this review, we would be very glad if Negrini and Romano could send to us the 3 articles that they mentioned, of which we were unaware or unable to retrieve, to evaluate whether they fit our eligibility criteria. When we decide to perform an update, we will probably be a bit stricter in our inclusion criteria and not include controlled studies with retrospectively gathered controls, because this is not in line with the guidelines of the Cochrane Collaboration.

Arianne Verhagen

Arianne Verhagen, PT, MT, PhD, is Physiotherapist and Research Assistant, Department of General Practice, Erasmus Medical Centre University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

References

1. Negrini S, Antonini G, Carabalona R, Minozzi S. Physical exercises as a treatment for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a systematic review. Pediatr Rehabil. 2003;6:227–235.[CrossRef][Medline]
2. Stone B, Beekman C, Hall V, et al. The effect of an exercise program on change in curve in adolescents with minimal idiopathic scoliosis: a preliminary study. Phys Ther. 1979;59:759–763.[ISI][Medline]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Verhagen, A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Verhagen, A.