Effect of Physical Therapy Modalities on Quality of Life of Head and Neck Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis Burgos Mansilla, Bárbara Galiano Castillo, Noelia Lozano Lozano, Mario Fernández Lao, Carolina López Garzón, María de la Cabeza Arroyo Morales, Manuel systematic review Meta-analysis Head and neck neoplasms Cancer survivors Physical therapy modalities Quality of life This work was part of a Ph.D. thesis conducted in the Clinical Medicine and Public Health Doctoral Studies of the University of Granada, Spain This work was supported by the University of Granada: “Proyectos de Investigación Precompetitivos para Jóvenes Investigadores. Plan Propio 2020”, Code: PPJIA2020.15. Conceptualization, B.B.-M. and N.G.-C.; methodology, B.B.-M., M.L.-L. and N.G.-C.; formal analysis, M.L.-L., M.L.-G. and C.F.-L.; writing—original draft preparation, B.B.-M., M.L.-L., N.G.-C., C.F.-L. and M.L.-G.; writing—review and editing, B.B.-M., N.G.-C. and M.A.-M.; supervision, N.G.-C. and M.A.-M.; funding acquisition, N.G.-C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. The objective was to describe the effectiveness of different physical therapy modalities to improve Quality of Life (QoL) in Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) survivors. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL and Cochrane Library were searched for randomized clinical controlled trials published until 30 April 2020. Risk of bias assessment and meta-analysis were conducted using the Cochrane tools. A total of 251 records were retrieved, and 10 met the inclusion criteria. Interventions whose parameters focus on a 12-week exercise programs of aerobic activity (walking) or Progressive Resistance Training (PRT) for the whole body are effective and safe modalities improving QoL in HNC survivors. Electrophysical agents did not show significant results between groups. As for the assessment of methodological quality, 4 of the 10 articles included had a high risk of overall bias. Only five articles provided sufficient information to conduct a meta-analysis for exercise program intervention on QoL, showing a tendency in favor of intervention group, even when the global results did not show statistically significant improvements (pooled Cohen’s d 0.15; 95% CI: −0.25 to 0.54; I2 45.87%; p heterogeneity = 0.10). The present review and meta-analysis identified meaningful benefits of exercise on QoL of HNC survivors; this has been confirmed in a meta-analysis. This review adds evidence supporting exercise interventions on Head and Neck Cancer population whose opportunities for successful recovery after medical treatment are more limited. 2021-11-22T12:39:04Z 2021-11-22T12:39:04Z 2021-10-13 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Burgos-Mansilla, B.; Galiano-Castillo, N.; Lozano-Lozano, M.; Fernández-Lao, C.; Lopez-Garzon, M.; Arroyo-Morales, M. Effect of Physical Therapy Modalities on Quality of Life of Head and Neck Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10, 4696. [https://doi.org/ 10.3390/jcm10204696] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/71669 10.3390/jcm10204696 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI