Ethics: Obeticholic Acid chemical structure The Erasmus Medical Center Ethics Committee approved the procedures and design of the original trial. Competing interests: No conflicts

of interest are reported. No benefits in any form have been or will be received from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this manuscript. “
“Physiotherapists have a positive attitude to evidence and are interested in using it to improve their daily practice (Jette et al 2003). The move towards evidence-based practice has resulted in an increasing number of randomised clinical trials being carried out. The investigation of interventions that will provide effective and accountable healthcare is only possible when clinical physiotherapists become involved and collaborate in research (Bechtel et al 2006, Stevenson et al 2004). Most of the literature investigating the attitude of clinicians involved in randomised trials is in the area of recruitment of patients by physicians or nurses (Burnett et al 2001, Embi et al 2008, Somkin et al 2005). On the whole, these studies found that recruitment of patients into clinical trials was low because it was affected by physicians’ and nurses’ attitudes or beliefs about the value of the research for the specific find more patient population (such as oncology patients). However, there is one study investigating the perceptions of nurses’ and radiation

therapists’ involvement in clinical trials in a Canadian cancer centre

(Sale 2007). These clinicians perceived a variety of ethical and workload concerns associated with clinical trials in cancer. Most of the focus of clinical trials is on 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase testing the effect of interventions. Therefore, it is not surprising that there has been little or no reporting of physiotherapists’ perceptions of their involvement in the research process and whether they perceive their participation to be beneficial to their clinical practice. Clinicians can be involved in a clinical trial in many ways including recruitment, blinded assessments, What is already known on this topic: Physiotherapists have a positive attitude to evidence to guide their clinical practice, but the involvement of clinical physiotherapists in research is important if clinical interventions are to be investigated adequately. What this study adds: Clinical physiotherapists who participate in research by delivering the intervention in a trial may enjoy the experience and value the evidence generated by the trial. Negative aspects of participating in research may be minimised if the protocol is feasible for the therapists administering the intervention, aligns well with local clinical practice, and does not disadvantage patients who do not participate in the trial. The positive aspects of participating in research generally outweigh the negative aspects.