separable
[45], we did one analysis for both combined.
To evaluate the longitudinal influence of the interventions
on pain intensity, we plotted the mean VAS-scores
before and after training against time for all 16 sessions
for each intervention and performed linear regression analyses.
We considered a longitudinal decrease in pain intensity
to be significant, when the regression coefficient was
significantly smaller than zero. Additionally, we investigated
the short-term effect of training on pain intensity by
subtracting the mean VAS-scores after training from those
before training for each intervention and compared these
change scores with a Paired-Samples T Test.
For all outcome measures, intention-to-treat analysis
was performed using the last observation carried forward
method to account for missing data. Only 1 participant refused
to take part in the follow-up measurement, and this
was treated as missing data. Alpha was set at 0.05.