Randomisation and blinding
pain
People with non-specific neck pain (n = 100) were randomly allocated to the experimental group (n = 75) or the placebo control group (n = 25). A computer random number generator was used to select blocks with block sizes of 4 and 8, with an allocation ratio 3:1. An independent person generated the random allocation sequence and allocated in a concealed manner the participant at the start of the treatment. Based on the immediate changes in pain intensity (i.e., at 10 min and 2 h following the intervention), measured using the visual analogue scale (VAS 0–100; pain at rest), participants in the experimental group were categorised into those with a good outcome (i.e., ≥ 50% improvement in pain intensity at both time points), a poor outcome (i.e., ≤ 20% improvement in pain intensity at both time points) or an unclear outcome (not fitting the criteria for a good or poor outcome)