The effects of exercise therapy feedback on subjective treatment outcome and patient satisfaction: study protocol for a mono-centric, randomized, controlled trial in orthopedic rehabilitation (FeedYou).

Background: The disease burden of musculoskeletal disorders necessitates multidisciplinary and patient-centered models of care. Exercise therapy represents a first-line treatment strategy and a central component of medical rehabilitation. In order to realize the goals of long-term physical activity and participation as proposed by the ICF, exercise therapy can be supplemented by interventional techniques from the field of psychotherapy. Although psychotherapist feedback has been shown to improve therapeutic outcome and patient satisfaction, feedback use in exercise therapy is mostly limited to motor learning and exercise instruction. The present paper therefore describes the use of multidimensional exercise therapy feedback in medical rehabilitation. The aims of the trial presented in this study protocol are to evaluate the effects of this novel feedback approach on rehabilitation outcomes in comparison to usual care.

Methods: The study is designed as a prospective, mono-centric, randomized controlled, superiority trial (RCT) with two parallel groups and three measuring points: T0 = start of three-week inpatient rehabilitation, T1 = end of three-week inpatient rehabilitation, T2 = 12-week follow-up. In total, 132 patients suffering from chronic neck, shoulder and/or lumbar spine disorders will be recruited. The intervention involves multidimensional exercise therapy feedbacks during the initial and final physical therapist examination, as well as short exercise therapy feedbacks during the course units of the mandatory group-based exercise therapy program. Primary outcomes are the subjective treatment outcome, assessed by BPI and indication-specific questionnaires, as well as patient satisfaction, assessed by ZUF-8 and an intervention-specific questionnaire. The final data collection is expected by May 2023.

Discussion: This study may provide a valuable insight into the effectiveness of multidimensional exercise therapy feedback to improve treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction in medical rehabilitation. This could contribute to rehabilitation quality assurance and the long-term physical activity behavior of rehabilitation patients. Trial registration The trial has been registered with the German Clinical Trial Register (DRKS) under the Registration Number DRKS00027263.