A 2014 Cochrane Review compared the effects of using a manual toothbrush with an electric toothbrush for maintaining oral health. What’s the evidence?
This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomized controlled trial examining the effectiveness of different exercises and stretching physiotherapy on pain and movement in patellofemoral pain syndrome.
Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) are nodules in a tight band of skeletal muscle which have an exaggerated response to moderate stimuli. These MTrPs are present in patients with myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). This blog critically appraises a randomized controlled trial which assessed the responsiveness of MTrPs to trigger point release massages.
This blog critically appraises a randomized controlled trial which compared spinal mobilization vs conventional physiotherapy in management of chronic low back pain due to disc degeneration.
GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) is a prominent framework for evaluating the effectiveness of systematic reviews. This blog provides detail of the GRADE approach with useful links to further reading on this key process.
This blog introduces you to the concept of confounding. There is a clear explanation and then examples and methods to minimise the effect of confounding during study design and statistical analysis.
This blog critically appraises a randomized controlled trial looking at the effectiveness of expiratory muscle training on the pulmonary function of patients with high spinal cord injury.
In this blog, Sophia discusses the term ‘treatment-resistant depression’ (TRD) and provides a summary of a 2018 Cochrane review which assessed the effectiveness for psychological therapies for adults with TRD.
This blog critically appraises a randomized controlled trial looking at the effectiveness of eccentric exercises in combination with PRP injections versus saline injection.
What is the evidence that having high cholesterol, or high LDL (low-density lipoprotein) levels, increases your chance of getting heart disease?
This is the thirty-fifth blog in a series of 36 blogs explaining 36 key concepts we need to be able to understand to think critically about treatment claims.
The certainty of the evidence (the extent to which the research provides a good indication of the likely effects of treatments) can affect the treatment decisions people make. For example, someone might decide not to use or to pay for a treatment if the certainty of the evidence is low or very low.
This is the thirty-fourth blog in a series of 36 blogs explaining 36 key concepts we need to be able to understand to think critically about treatment claims.
Comparisons designed to evaluate whether a treatment can work under ideal circumstances may not reflect what you can expect under usual circumstances.
This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomized control trial which examined the effect of a preoperative exercise intervention on knee pain, functional ability, and quadriceps strength among patients with knee osteoarthritis before and after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery.
This is the thirtieth blog in a series of 36 blogs explaining 36 key concepts we need to be able to understand to think critically about treatment claims.
Systematic reviews sometimes conclude that there is “no evidence of a difference” when there is uncertainty about the difference between two treatments. This is often misinterpreted as meaning that there is “no difference” between the treatments compared.
Much research has looked into the use of exercise for patients receiving cancer treatment, however few studies have focused on palliative care. This blog is a critical appraisal of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) which evaluated the use of a physiotherapy programme to reduce cancer related fatigue in palliative cancer patients.