Colleagues:
In my experience, many physical therapists often bemoan the lack of evidence
to guide their clinical decisions. The recent postings of the laundry list
of interventions and the comments about the lack of research specific to
those interventions is a case in point. IMHO to often we do not utilize the
wealth of information that does exist. There is a substantial amount of
research for many of our interventions, including some of those recently
posted on this listserv.
While we will never have all the answers to all the questions we do have a
huge amount of literature applicable to our practice. A problem of greater
importance than a lack of sufficient research is the failure of clinicians
to seek out the research that currently exists. We should all support
further research in what ever manner we can given our individual situations.
More importantly, we have an ethical responsibility to make clinical
decisions and offer our patients treatment options based on the currently
available evidence.
The below link may be of assistance when critiquing the literature.
http://www.med.ualberta.ca/ebm/ebm.htm
*******************************************************
Douglas M. White, PT, OCS
Physical Therapist, Consultant
191 Blue Hills Parkway
Milton, MA USA 02186
P: 617.696.1974
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http://DouglasWhite.tripod.com
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