EJPRM systematic continuous update on Cochrane reviews in rehabilitation: news from the first issue 2009

The aim of the present paper is to systematically review all the new rehabilitation papers published in the first issue of 2009 by the Cochrane Library in order to provide to physicians involved in the field a summary of the best evidence nowadays available. The author systematically searched all the new papers of rehabilitative interest from the 1st issue 2009 of the Cochrane Library. The retrieved papers have been then divided in subgroups on the base of the topic. The number of included papers was five, the dealing with neurological rehabilitation, one about respiratory and one about geriatric rehabilitation. Numerous studies are available on neurological rehabilitation, with new evidence and indications, but more studies are needed. Pulmonary and geriatric topics confirmed to be relevant in the rehabilitation field. The Cochrane Collaboration and its product, the Cochrane Library, are really relevant instruments to improve evidence based medicine in medical practice and thus, also in the rehabilitation field. The present paper can help rehabilitation specialists to easily retrieve the conclusions of the most relevant and updated reviews in order to update their clinical practice in a more rapid and effective way.