Effects of individual and group exercise programs on pain, balance, mobility and perceived benefits in rheumatoid arthritis with pain and foot deformities.

Only 28 patients were studied, and the paper does not report how many completed the intervention or were analysed after dropout. Patients were allocated in sequence from a waiting list, and the group program patients were older and lighter at baseline. The results compare each group with its own baseline; there was no untreated control group and no direct comparison between individual and group programs. Both programs included several components together, so the study cannot tell whether self-care information, foot training, balance training or mobility training produced the changes. Follow-up was only about 30 days after the first assessment, and the authors say longer follow-up is needed to see whether gains persist. Participants had long-standing RA with foot deformities and stable medication; changes in medication would exclude a patient from the study, so results may not apply to patients whose drugs are changing.

The supplied text does not report funding or conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that the programs are proven effective or that one format is superior. The study had no untreated control group and did not compare the two formats directly; it only reported changes from each group's own baseline.