Exercise Therapy for Osteoarthritis: A Living Systematic Review

Background Exercise therapy has been widely recognized in recent years as an effective intervention for individuals with osteoarthritis, with randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews demonstrating benefits greater than those of pharmacological treatments. However, three recent large-scale RCTs and an individual patient data meta-analysis published in The Lancet have challenged its clinical relevance, showing only marginal benefits over placebo. This has sparked considerable debate among experts and caused uncertainty among physiotherapists, with some questioning whether exercise therapy offers a meani…