Anyone who’s had any experience in sport has probably come across the prototypical old-school coach – the one who claims that something working in the past is evidence enough to keep doing it.
Like coaching, the world of therapy has these same ‘old-school’ practitioners. We’re working hard to change that thinking – ask any recent physiotherapy grad, and they’ll tell you that ‘critical thinking’ and ‘evidence based practice’ are terms they have heard literally thousands of times throughout their university careers. To me, research creates a platform from which we can build and evolve our best practice guidelines. The phrase ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’ fits perfectly – we take advantage of the work done by others, to help us become better practitioners.
That’s not to say that none of us have ever used a technique that hasn’t been ‘proven’ in research studies to work. The great therapists that I’ve been fortunate enough to work with always pull from experience, education, and evidence to make clinical decisions. The ones I have the most respect for are the ones who will adapt – or even abandon – their treatment plan, when presented with contradicting evidence.
Our goal at Motus is simple: To provide the best possible care to our patients. Like those great practitioners we’ve learned from, we will use our experience, our education, and the most current evidence to create a treatment plan that works. Whether that ends up being dry needling, manipulation, exercise prescription, concussion management, or something completely different, we can be confident that our choices are founded on research, and driven by experience.
