Treatment goals are a motivational tool commonly used by physiotherapists to improve patients' compliance with exercise programmes. This study investigated their effectiveness in meeting this aim. Sixty-six patients starting a new course of physiotherapy and having exercises as part of their treatment, were randomly allocated to one of the three experimental goal groups: physiotherapist-participant collaborative, physiotherapist-mandated, and no formally set goals. The number of sessions and repetitions they performed for each exercise was recorded in a diary. Data showed there were no significant differences between the groups on overall compliance. However, analysis of range of movement and muscle strength data showed the no formally set goals group to be significantly more compliant than the physiotherapist-mandated group. Further analysis revealed that those participants in the collaborative group who had range of movement or both muscle strength and range of movement measurements were significantly more compliant with the recommended exercise repetitions than those in the physiotherapist mandated group. The results of this study indicate that treatment goals may not be a suitable motivational tool for all people, but if they are to be used in physiotherapy, collaboratively set goals appear to lead to a higher level of treatment compliance than physiotherapist-mandated goals.

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