REVIEW PAPER
Exploring factors influencing adherence to home exercise program among patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain – a scoping review
1
Department of Mind Body Medicine and Lifestyle Sciences, Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chennai, India
2
School of Rehabilitation and Medical Sciences, University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman
3
Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Physiotherapy, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2024-08-20
Acceptance date: 2025-03-06
Online publication date: 2026-01-22
Corresponding author
Narasimman Swaminathan
School of Rehabilitation and Medical Sciences, University of Nizwa, Initial Campus, Birkut Al Moiz, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman
School of Rehabilitation and Medical Sciences, University of Nizwa, Initial Campus, Birkut Al Moiz, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Adherence to home exercises is an important issue in clinical practice. Multiple factors need to be considered while designing tailored home exercise programs (HEPs). Poor adherence to the prescribed HEPs is reported in the literature. This lack of adherence to exercise increases the risk of repeated injury or aggravation. The objective of this scoping review was to understand the extent and type of evidence available in relation to adherence to the prescribed Home exercise programs and the factors affecting them among patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.
Methods:
This scoping review followed the frameworks proposed by Arksey and O’Malley. The standards for reporting were the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). We conducted the literature search in December 2023 through the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Ovid Emcare electronic databases using MeSH terms. This review included studies published in English since the year 2000. Two authors independently screened the retrieved studies using the Covidence software. The extracted data were collated and analysed.
Results:
A total of 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria were analysed. The analysed studies included clients with an array of chronic musculoskeletal pain complaints. Poor adherence to the prescribed HEP is non-specific to the pain region and is multifactorial.
Conclusions:
The studies presented with adherence factors that pertained to the practitioner, patient population and the interventions adopted. The factors influencing HEP adherence are multifactorial, with research indicating the need for specific measures to improve adherence and long-term outcomes.
Adherence to home exercises is an important issue in clinical practice. Multiple factors need to be considered while designing tailored home exercise programs (HEPs). Poor adherence to the prescribed HEPs is reported in the literature. This lack of adherence to exercise increases the risk of repeated injury or aggravation. The objective of this scoping review was to understand the extent and type of evidence available in relation to adherence to the prescribed Home exercise programs and the factors affecting them among patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.
Methods:
This scoping review followed the frameworks proposed by Arksey and O’Malley. The standards for reporting were the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). We conducted the literature search in December 2023 through the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Ovid Emcare electronic databases using MeSH terms. This review included studies published in English since the year 2000. Two authors independently screened the retrieved studies using the Covidence software. The extracted data were collated and analysed.
Results:
A total of 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria were analysed. The analysed studies included clients with an array of chronic musculoskeletal pain complaints. Poor adherence to the prescribed HEP is non-specific to the pain region and is multifactorial.
Conclusions:
The studies presented with adherence factors that pertained to the practitioner, patient population and the interventions adopted. The factors influencing HEP adherence are multifactorial, with research indicating the need for specific measures to improve adherence and long-term outcomes.
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