Matthew Low - Navigating The Terrain Between Research And Practice

About: The practice of physiotherapy does not happen in a philosophical vacuum (Anjum and Mumford, 2018). While the idea of an ‘evidence-based’ healthcare might have immediate appeal, what this means in practice relies heavily on what we consider as causal evidence. From one particular view, ‘evidence’ largely refers to statistical evidence, preferably from randomized controlled trials, linking one type of intervention to a therapeutic effect (Djulbegovic and Guyatt, 2017).

Starting from exploring the inherent complexity of a person suffering in persistent pain, this presentation walks through the challenges that are met with regards to reaching the 'totality of evidence' and its application in a real world setting, particularly that which lies outside of the clinic door.

Citations:
1) Anjum, R.L., & Mumford, S. (2018). Causation in science and the methods of scientific discovery. Oxford University Press.

2) Djulbegovic B, Guyatt GH (2017) Progress in evidence-based medicine: a quarter century on. Lancet 390:415-23 Launer, J. (2018).

3) Narrative based practice in health and social care: conversations inviting change. Routledge. Low, M. (2017).

4) A novel clinical framework: The use of dispositions in clinical practice. A person centred approach. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 23(5), 1062-1070. Anjum, Copeland, Rocca (eds)

5) Rethinking Causality, Complexity and Evidence for the Unique Patient. A CauseHealth Resource for Healthcare Professionals and the Clinical Encounter.In Press (2020) Springer.

Matthew Low is a Consultant Physiotherapist in the NHS and is a Visiting Associate at the Orthopaedic Research Institute at Bournemouth University, UK, working on the philosophy and practice of person-centred care, causal complexity of pain and critical clinical reasoning.