Usual care: the big but unmanaged problem of rehabilitation evidence – Authors' reply

• Published in: The Lancet (British edition) 2020-02, Vol.395 (10221), p.337-338
• Main Authors: Rodgers, Helen, Bosomworth, Helen, van Wijck, Frederike, Krebs, Hermano Igo, Shaw, Lisa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clinical medicine; Clinical trials; Data collection; Laboratories; Quality of Life; Rehabilitation; Robotics; Wrist
• ISSN: 0140-6736; 1474-547X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32543-7

Reporting the planned and actual treatment received by all randomisation groups is a key component of a trial, as it enables readers to understand and appraise the study and replicate it in future research or clinical practice.2 Although various templates for planning and reporting usual care in trials are available,3–5 a Cochrane checklist, as suggested by Negrini and colleagues, would be very welcome and could be an important step in improving the reporting of the content of usual care. Collecting data from many individuals from a range of organisations, many of whom are not directly involved in the trial, is challenging. [...]participants in the RATULS trial were asked to record the usual care they received, but this approach has inherent limitations, including data completeness. HIK was the founder of Interactive Motion Technologies and was chairman of the board (1998–2016); he sold Interactive Motion Technologies in April, 2016, to Bionik Laboratories, where he served as chief science officer and board member until July, 2017; he was the founder of 4Motion Robotics (2017); and he has patents (Interactive Robotic Therapist; US Patent 5,466,213; 1995; Massachusetts Institute of Technology issued a patent Wrist And Upper Extremity Motion; US Patent 7,618,381; 2009; Massachusetts Institute of Technology licensed to Bionik Laboratories).