New publication: The quality of intervention reporting in trials of therapeutic exercise for hip osteoarthritis

Louise Burgess

Tom Wainwright

Congratulations to Tom Wainwright and Louise Burgess, who have had their article “The quality of intervention reporting in trials of therapeutic exercise for hip osteoarthritis: A secondary analysis of a systematic review” published in Trials.

Tom and Louise collaborated with Professor Maura Iverson (Northeastern University), Dr Johan von Heideken (Karolinska Institute) and Khara James (Northeastern University), following Louise’s Santander mobility trip to Boston, Massachusetts in September 2019.

Exercise is recommended as a core treatment for hip osteoarthritis, however optimal type and dose is yet to be agreed upon in the literature. It is possible that a lack of consensus on optimal exercise dose can, in part, be attributed to inadequate reporting of interventions within research studies.

This review evaluates the quality of intervention reporting among trials of therapeutic exercise in hip osteoarthritis.

ORI research in exercise and arthritis 

The review found that whilst the quality of intervention reporting is improving, many trials lack the detail necessary to allow accurate evaluation and replication. The results and discussion sections highlight areas for improvement when reporting exercise interventions.

The research group hope this work will help to improve the reporting of exercise interventions for hip osteoarthritis in the future and subsequently increase the translation of effective interventions into clinical practice. Furthermore, the authors hope that improved reporting of interventions will allow researchers to build upon findings, and work towards developing standardized guidelines for optimal exercise prescription within hip osteoarthritis.

Tom Wainwright said:

“It has been great to collaborate with international colleagues on this work, and to capitalise on the relationships made by Louise during her Santander mobility trip to Boston. The work has helped to inform and strengthen other projects at ORI studying exercise and arthritis, and we are looking at further collaboration opportunities with Prof Iverson and her team.”

The article can be accessed here.