Characteristics of included studies.
| Study | No. | Female, % | Age, Yrs, Mean | Trial Type | Setting | Followup | Intervention | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davenport 2012, UK | 39 | 82 | 60 | Pilot RCT | Hand center | 3, 6 mos | 3 specific CMC exercises 3–4×/day for 6 mos. Home-based with 3 reviews. | General exercise regimen for CMC 3–4×/day |
| Dziedzic 2015, UK | 130* | 66 | 66 | RCT | Primary care/research clinic | 3, 6, 12 mos | 10 hand exercises daily for 1 yr. Group (4 sessions)/home-based. | No exercise |
| Hennig 2015, Norway | 80 | 100 | 61 | RCT | Outpatient secondary care | 3 mos | 5 hand exercises 3×/week for 3 mos. Home-based. | No exercise |
| Lefler 2004, USA | 19 | 90 | 81 | RCT | Elderly living in community | 6 weeks | 3 hand exercises 3×/week for 6 weeks. Supervised. | No exercise |
| Nery 2015, Brazil | 60 | NR | NR | RCT | NR | 6, 12 weeks | Exercises 2×/week for 12 weeks. | No exercise |
| Rogers 2009, USA | 76 | 85 | 75 | Crossover | Elderly living in community | 16, 32, 48 weeks | 9 hand/arm exercises 3×/week. Home-based. | No exercise (apply hand cream) |
| Østerås 2014, Norway | 130 | 90 | 66 | RCT | Primary/secondary care | 3, 6 mos | 8 hand/arm exercises 3×/week. Group (4 sessions)/home-based. | No exercise |
↵* Dziedzic 2015 (the SMOotH trial) had a factorial design with 4 groups and included a total of 257 randomized participants. In this review we used a subset including 2 of the 4 groups (Hand exercise only and Leaflet and advice) and omitted the other 2 groups (Joint protection and Joint protection and hand exercise combined). No.: no. participants randomly assigned; NR: not reported: RCT: randomized controlled trial; CMC: carpometacarpal.