[DGRW-update: exercise therapy in medical rehabilitation--effects, quality, perspectives]

Exercise therapy constitutes the better part of rehabilitative treatment. However, in rehabilitation research the scientific analysis of exercise therapy only plays a minor role. Taking the theoretical model of rehabilitation and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) into account, we propose a heuristic model of aims and effects of exercise therapy and define a system of methodological target setting. This system offers a background for an expanded scientific discussion about biopsychosocial determinants and effects of exercise therapy as well as quality development and the evaluation of exercise treatment concepts within and across indications in the context of multimodal medical rehabilitation.