Appendix 1: Search Strategies for MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Clinical Trials, CINAHL, LILACS and PEDro Databases

Search strategy for MEDLINE (25/05/2011)

1. / controlled clinical trial.pt. or double blind method.sh. or single blind method.sh. or clinical trial.pt. or exp clinical trial/ or (clinica$ adj25 trial$).ti,ab,sh. or ((singl$ or doubl$ or trepl$ or tripl$) adj25 (blind$ or mask$)).tw. or placebos.sh. or placebo$.tw. or random$.tw. or research design.sh. or comparative study.sh. or exp evaluation studies/ or follow-up studies.sh. or prospective studies.sh. or (control$ or prospective$ or volunteer$).tw.
2. / animal.mp. not human.sh. [mp=ti, ot, ab, sh, hw, kw, ps, rs, nm, ui]
3. / 1 not 2
4. / exp Patient preference/
5. / exp Patient Acceptance of Health Care/
6. / Treatment Refusal.sh.
7. / Preference$.mp. [mp=protocol supplementary concept, rare disease supplementary concept, title, original title, abstract, name of substance word, subject heading word, unique identifier]
8. / 4 or 5 or 6 or 7
9. / (back pain or neck pain or whiplash).mp.
10. / (exp extremities/ or exp joints/) and (pain/rh, th or arthralgia/rh, th)
11. / musculoskeletal pain.mp.
12. / musculoskeletal disease/
13. / 9 or 10 or 11 or 12
14. / 3 and 8 and 13
15. / remove duplicates from 14

Search strategies for PsycINFO (24/05/2011)

1. / controlled clinical trial.pt. or double blind method.sh. or single blind method.sh. or clinical trial.pt. or exp clinical trial/ or (clinica$ adj25 trial$).ti,ab,sh. or ((singl$ or doubl$ or trepl$ or tripl$) adj25 (blind$ or mask$)).tw. or placebos.sh. or placebo$.tw. or random$.tw. or research design.sh. or comparative study.sh. or exp evaluation studies/ or follow-up studies.sh. or prospective studies.sh. or (control$ or prospective$ or volunteer$).tw.
2. / animal.mp. not human.sh. [mp=title, abstract, heading word, table of contents, key concepts, original title, tests & measures]
3. / 1 not 2
4. / preference$.mp. or exp Preferences/
5. / Treatment Refusal.sh.
6. / 4 or 5
7. / (back pain or neck pain or whiplash).mp.
8. / ((extremities or joint$) and (pain or arthralgia)).mp.
9. / exp Musculoskeletal System/ or exp Musculoskeletal Disorders/ or musculoskeletal.mp.
10. / 7 or 8 or 9
11. / 3 and 6 and 10

Search strategies for CINAHL (24/05/2011)

S1. / randomized controlled trial or controlled clinical trial or randomized controlled trials or randomized controlled trials or random allocation or double-blind method or single-blind method or clinical trial or clinical trials or placebos or placebo$ or random$ or research design or comparative study or evaluation studies or follow-up studies or prospective studies or cross-over studies or control$ or prospectiv$ or volunteer$ or ("volunteer$") or (MH "Clinical Trials+") or (MH "Cochrane Library") or (MH "Random Assignment") or (MH "Random Sample+") or (MH "Double-Blind Studies") or (MH "Single-Blind Studies") or (MH "Placebos") or (MH "Placebo Effect") or (MH "Comparative Studies") or (MH "Evaluation Research+") or (MH "Concurrent Prospective Studies") or (MH "Prospective Studies+") or (MH "Crossover Design")
S2. / (MH "Animals+") not (MH "Human")
S3. / S1 not S2
S4. / "Preference$"
S5. / (MH "Treatment Refusal")
S6. / (S4 or S5)
S7. / back pain or neck pain or whiplash
S8. / ((MH "Arthralgia+") OR (MH "Pain+")) AND ((MH "Joints+") OR (MH "Extremities+") OR (MH "Upper Extremity Exercises+"))
S9. / (MH "Musculoskeletal Diseases+")
S10. / "Musculoskeletal pain"
S11. / S7 or S8 or S9 or S10
S12. / S3 and S6 and S11

Search strategies for Cochrane Central Register of Clinical Trials (27/05/2011)

1. / controlled clinical trial.pt. or double blind method.sh. or single blind method.sh. or clinical trial.pt. or exp clinical trial/ or (clinica$ adj25 trial$).ti,ab,sh. or ((singl$ or doubl$ or trepl$ or tripl$) adj25 (blind$ or mask$)).tw. or placebos.sh. or placebo$.tw. or random$.tw. or research design.sh. or comparative study.sh. or exp evaluation studies/ or follow-up studies.sh. or prospective studies.sh. or (control$ or prospective$ or volunteer$).tw.
2. / animal.mp. not human.sh. [mp=title, original title, abstract, mesh headings, heading words, keyword]
3. / 1 not 2
4. / exp Patient preference/
5. / exp Patient Acceptance of Health Care/
6. / Treatment Refusal.sh.
7. / Preference$.mp. [mp=ti, ot, ab, sh, hw, kw, ps, rs, nm, ui]
8. / 4 or 5 or 6 or 7
9. / (back pain or neck pain or whiplash).mp.
10. / (exp extremities/ or exp joints/) and (pain/rh, th or arthralgia/rh, th)
11. / exp musculoskeletal diseases/rh, th
12. / exp musculoskeletal diseases/su
13. / musculoskeletal pain.mp.
14. / 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 or 13
15. / 3 and 8 and 14
16. / remove duplicates from 15

Search strategies for PEDro (26/05/2011)

Advanced search

Abstract and title: preference

Therapy: no selection

Problem: no selection

Body part: no selection

Subdiscipline: no selection

Method: clinical trial

Search strategies for LILACS (24/05/2011)

Search on: random$ AND clinical AND trial