Keele Primary Care trial one of world's most significant
A trial by a team at the Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre (Instittue for Primary Care & Health Sciences) evaluating stratified primary care management for low back pain has been selected as one of the 15 most significant trials in physiotherapy internationally.
The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) has identified the most important trials to have influenced the practice of physical therapy, including studies in back pain, sports injuries, ageing, stress incontinence and pulmonary and stroke rehabilitation. PEDro indexes reports of more than 28,000 guidelines, trials and reviews and published the list to celebrate its 15th anniversary. It asked PEDro users to nominate the most significant physical therapy trials ever published, which were then judged by a panel of international physiotherapy trialists.
The Keele trial - Comparison of stratified primary care management for low back pain with current best practice (STarT Back): a randomised controlled trial; Lancet 2011 Oct 29;378(9802):1560-1571; Hill JC, Whitehurst DG, Lewis M, Bryan S, Dunn KM, Foster NE, Konstantinou K, Main CJ, Mason E, Somerville S, Sowden G, Vohora K, Hay EM - was identified as one of the top 15 most significant in the world for physical therapy.
The team at Keele, headed up by Professors Elaine Hay and Nadine Foster, who are leading an ambitious programme of stratified care research, are delighted with this recent announcement. The STarT Back approach is now being implemented as an exemplar project within the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network, with support from the Keele primary care implementation team.