The Clinical journal of pain
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The benefits of family-based interventions for patients with musculoskeletal pain have been previously shown in individual randomized controlled trials (RCTs), but no systematic review has summarized their effects. ⋯ There is moderate-quality evidence that family-based interventions result in small, significantly better pain and disability outcomes in the short-term compared with individual-focused interventions in patients with musculoskeletal pain. Based on low-quality evidence, family-based interventions result in small improvements on pain in the short-term compared with usual care. Future studies should review the content and optimize the mechanisms underpinning family-based interventions in musculoskeletal pain so that the approach could be further tested in adequately powered RCTs.