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Evidence summaries

Insoles for Prevention of Back Pain

Insoles may not prevent back pain. There is limited evidence that insoles alleviate back pain or adversely shift the pain to the lower extremities. Level of evidence: "C"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 6 studies with a total of 2 316 subjects. A total of 2 061 participants with no back pain were included in three trials, which tested both customized and non-customized insoles versus no intervention or sham-inserts for the prevention of back pain in military settings. The trials lasted five to fourteen weeks. The pooled RR in favor of the use of insoles was 0.73 (95% CI 0.43 to 1.22, P = 0.17). Three studies included mixed participant populations (and thus had both a prevention and treatment assessment). Their data suggest that insoles may help decrease low-back pain prevalence and magnitude, but drawbacks in design and data presentation call into question these conclusions. No pure treatment trials were found.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by inconsistency (heterogeneity in interventions and outcomes) and by study quality (more than 20% loss to follow up).

    References

    • Sahar T, Cohen MJ, Ne'eman V, Kandel L, Odebiyi DO, Lev I, Brezis M, Lahad A. Insoles for prevention and treatment of back pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD005275 [Last assessed as up-to-date: 26 October 2008]. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords