PT Inquest

We all know that "correlation does not equal causation" but it is still counterintuitive. There are many questions in healthcare that just cannot be approached by the randomized controlled trial (RCT) requiring us to depend on observational data which is extremely susceptible to this confounding correlation problem. Are there any visual tools that we can use to help keep our thinking honest and not fall for spurious correlations? YES! Join us on an exploration of directed acyclic graphs!!! THIS ARTICLE IS CURRENTLY OPEN ACCESS SO FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ IT!

Thinking Clearly About Correlations and Causation: Graphical Causal Models for Observational Data. Rohrer JM. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. First Published January 29, 2018.

Here is the Amazon link to the book Erik was talking about, Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission

Being positive in life is usually seen as a good thing. Try to identify the silver lining and highlight it. But when it comes to research, that "spin" can have detrimental results for developing clinical guidelines and the scientific process as a whole. This is the final episode of this season - we'll see you all in a few months!

'Spin' in published biomedical literature: A methodological systematic review. Chiu K, Grundy Q, Bero L. PLoS Biol. 2017 Sep 11;15(9):e2002173. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2002173. eCollection 2017 Sep.

Recommendations are made in the absence of any good treatments. Colquhoun D. BMJ. 2017 Aug 30;358:j3975. doi: 10.1136/bmj.j3975.

Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission

The double bundle ACL reconstruction is better! Kinda. Sorta. Maybe. But maybe it's not for you. Or maybe it is! Does this squirrel look fat? Does anyone read these descriptions? Does anyone else smell toast? I smell toast...

Double-Bundle Versus Single-Bundle Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Prospective Randomized Study With 10-Year Results. Järvelä S, Kiekara T, Suomalainen P, Järvelä T. Am J Sports Med. 2017 Sep;45(11):2578-2585. doi: 10.1177/0363546517712231. Epub 2017 Jun 29.

Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission

There is a lot that we can throw at musculoskeletal pain, but what actually has evidence behind it? We do we actually know and what directions should the research be headed? THIS ARTICLE IS OPEN ACCESS SO FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ IT!

Effective treatment options for musculoskeletal pain in primary care: A systematic overview of current evidence. Babatunde OO, Jordan JL, Van der Windt DA, Hill JC, Foster NE, Protheroe J. PLoS One. 2017 Jun 22;12(6):e0178621. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178621. eCollection 2017.

Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission

Medical research as a whole can be a mess of low quality studies. This has significant downstream effects of misinformation, confusion, and large variation of practice, not to mention the abundance of low value healthcare being provided. So how do we survive this mess? THIS ARTICLE IS OPEN ACCESS SO FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ IT!

How to survive the medical misinformation mess. Ioannidis JPA, Stuart ME, Brownlee S, Strite SA. Eur J Clin Invest. 2017 Sep 7. doi: 10.1111/eci.12834. [Epub ahead of print]

Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission

QUICK! Cams in the hip: Good thing or bad thing?! Where do they come from? How do they develop? Does playing sports during adolescence cause them? How should you advise your patients? THIS ARTICLE IS OPEN ACCESS SO FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ IT!

Physical activity during adolescence and the development of cam morphology: a cross-sectional cohort study of 210 individuals. Palmer A, Fernquest S, Gimpel M, Birchall R, Judge A, Broomfield J, Newton J, Wotherspoon M, Carr A, Glyn-Jones S. BJSM. 2017 Aug 10. pii: bjsports-2017-097626. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2017-097626. [Epub ahead of print]

Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission

Why is there so much research waste? Why are there lots of redundancies and studies that show effects but don't actually move our understanding forward? Can anything be done to prevent this for happening before data collection even begins? THIS ARTICLE IS OPEN ACCESS SO FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ IT!

Preparing for what the reporting checklists will not tell you: the PREPARE Trial guide for planning clinical research to avoid research waste. Bandholm T, Christensen R, Thorborg K, Treweek S, Henriksen M. BJSM. 2017 Sep 7. pii: bjsports-2017-097527. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2017-097527. [Epub ahead of print]

Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission

If all patients get formal rehab right after lumbar disc surgery that would result in better outcomes and reduced overall costs right? Well, that makes sense but it turns out that such a question is very difficult to answer objectively. Turns out that cost-effectiveness studies require a very particular design and a lot of forethought. Keep in mind that papers like this provide our profession honest guidance, not hurtful criticism. THIS ARTICLE IS OPEN ACCESS SO FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ IT!

Early rehabilitation after lumbar disc surgery is not effective or cost-effective compared to no referral: a randomised trial and economic evaluation. Oosterhuis T, Ostelo RW, van Dongen JM1, Peul WC, de Boer MR, Bosmans JE, Vleggeert-Lankamp CL, Arts MP, van Tulder MW. J Physiother. 2017 Jul;63(3):144-153. doi: 10.1016/j.jphys.2017.05.016. Epub 2017 Jun 28.

Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission

Psychological interventions are becoming popular for treating pain but what is the evidence base for this? Can these interventions stand alone or are they just are part of a bigger picture? Is pain what should be measured as a benchmark for success? THIS ARTICLE IS OPEN ACCESS SO FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ IT!

An umbrella review of the literature on the effectiveness of psychological interventions for pain reduction. Markozannes G, Aretouli E, Rintou E, Dragioti E, Damigos D, Ntzani E, Evangelou E, Tsilidis KK. BMC Psychology. 2017 Aug 31. doi: 10.1186/s40359-017-0200-5.

Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission

Is research like a language? The data being the words, studies being the sentences, and systematic reviews being paragraphs. But what gives all of this the required structure? You know, the grammar? Statistics! But how is all of this supposed to work? THIS ARTICLE IS OPEN ACCESS SO FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ IT!

Statistical science: a grammar for research. Cox DR. Eur J Epidemiol. 2017 Jul 29. doi: 10.1007/s10654-017-0288-1. [Epub ahead of print]

Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.

Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission