Serving the clinician and the patient: Three ways that quality clinical guidelines can build on expert consensus statements and systematic reviews

Abstract

Sound guidelines already exist in sport and exercise medicine-an example of a guideline that addresses all the elements discussed here is the Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy practice guidelines for anterior cruciate ligament rehabilitation.9 However, we can always do better. Developers must strive to produce recommendations that are evidence-based, valid, applicable and feasible for clinical practice. Quality guidelines can improve the translation of the best available evidence into practical guidelines to support quality clinical practice in sport and exercise medicine.