Taping

Taping

There are many brands of elastic therapeutic tape, the most well known brand being Kinesio tape. This brand of therapeutic tape was developed by Kenzo Kase in 1970 as an adjunct treatment for athletic injuries and a variety of musculoskeletal disorders.

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Placebos work even when patients know what they are

Placebos work even when patients know what they are

"Lying to patients is almost always unethical. But, in order for placebos to work, we have to believe they are “real” treatments, which means the doctor would have to lie to us and say that the placebo was actually a real treatment. Or, in the case of a clinical trial, that it might be a real treatment. After all, if a doctor handed you a pill and said, “this is just a sugar pill”, you’d probably assume it wouldn’t work. But sometimes our assumptions are mistaken."

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Massage Therapy and Postoperative Care

Massage Therapy and Postoperative Care

The use of massage therapy has been shown to improve outcomes in post-op patients. One recent paper published in the journal PM&R, looked at the use of fascial manipulation following total hip arthroplasty. Another recent study published in The Journal of Knee Surgery looked at the effect that soft-tissue treatments with hand-held instruments have on post-surgical knee stiffness. In the study soft-tissue treatments was shown to improve knee flexion deficits by 35° and knee flexion contractures by 12° in a small cohort of individuals who had failed to respond to traditional rehabilitation and manipulation under anesthesia. 

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The seven deadly sins of statistical misinterpretation, and how to avoid them

The seven deadly sins of statistical misinterpretation, and how to avoid them

"Statistics is a useful tool for understanding the patterns in the world around us. But our intuition often lets us down when it comes to interpreting those patterns. In this series we look at some of the common mistakes we make and how to avoid them when thinking about statistics, probability and risk."

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