TY - JOUR T1 - What makes a great clinical trial? Exploring the features of five important physiotherapy trials JF - British Journal of Sports Medicine JO - Br J Sports Med SP - 78 LP - 80 DO - 10.1136/bjsports-2020-102088 VL - 55 IS - 2 AU - Anita B Amorim AU - Joshua R Zadro AU - Anne M Moseley Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/2/78.abstract N2 - Some clinical trials are landmark trials that grab international attention. Others fail to excite. What is the difference between a great trial and a mediocre trial? A recent initiative provides some insights.The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) is a free, online database of randomised trials, systematic reviews and practice guidelines in physiotherapy. To mark PEDro’s 20th anniversary, physiotherapists worldwide were invited to nominate randomised trials published in 2014–2019 that answered important clinical questions in a robust and innovative way (online supplementary file A). A panel of experts in clinical trials judged the nominations and established the top five trials: LIPPSMAck POP,1 SARAH,2 AVERT,3 HIHO4 and UK FASHIoN5 (table 1). The lessons learnt from the top five trials are relevant to trials in sports and exercise medicine because they all tested exercise interventions against other models of care (ie, phase III).Supplementary data [bjsports-2020-102088supp001.pdf] View this table:In this windowIn a new windowTable 1 Description of the top five trialsNot every sports physiotherapist would think about upper abdominal surgery, but ‘Exercise is Medicine’ and physiotherapy can play a major role in preventing serious, common and costly pulmonary complications. LIPPSMAck POP1 demonstrated that a single … ER -