The Effect of Group Training or Spinal Orthosis on Quality of Life and Potential Plasma Markers of Pain in Older Women With Osteoporosis. A Randomized Controlled Trial.

The investigators were not blinded because the research group was too small. The authors state that power calculations were not performed for the quality-of-life and pain-marker endpoints, so the study may have been underpowered for these analyses. Recruitment was partly from an osteoporosis school, and controls may have continued osteoporosis-targeted home exercises during the study. Osteoporosis was self-reported, and the group included women with and without vertebral fractures, which may have made the population heterogeneous. Many plasma pain-marker values were missing and standard deviations were large. Groups differed at baseline in pain medication, fall risk, previous stroke, and some quality-of-life domains. Home exercise adherence was not recorded.

No funding source or conflict-of-interest declaration is given in the supplied text. Medi AB provided the Spinomed orthosis.

Do not conclude that exercise or the orthosis improves quality of life. The primary quality-of-life outcome showed no clear benefit, and the only significant quality-of-life difference was worse mobility in the orthosis group. The lower IL-6 level in the orthosis group is a secondary plasma finding, not proof of reduced pain or better function.