Search strategy

The strategy for identifying relevant literature has been developed and piloted in consultation with a health-research librarian (Appendix 1). The search strategy was developed based on the instructions in Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions (Higgins and Green, 2011) and the center for review and dissemination recommendation for health care review (Akers et al., 2009). A search of bibliographic databases and will be carried out with the search strategy; searches will involve a combination of terms of medical subject headings (MeSh) and keywords in the title, abstract and text for the population, intervention, comparison and outcomes.

Multiple database including Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, CINAHL (Cumulative index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), OVID, ProQuest health and medical complete, AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine Database), PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection and PEDRO (Physiotherapy Evidence database) will be searched to identify the appropriate articles. In addition, hand searching of the reference list of the identified studies, conference proceeding, directory of open-access repository websites and trial register (e.g., http://www.clinicaltrial.gov, http://www.opendor.org) will also be searched.