Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Editorials

The evidence base for orthopaedics and sports medicine

BMJ 2015; 350 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g7835 (Published 02 January 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:g7835

Rapid Response:

I totally agree with the premise of the article. Having superficially investigated some controversial sports medicine treatments, such as platelet-rich plasma injections (only recently removed from the prohibited substance list), which mainly have an anecdotal evidence base; it seems much of the practice is, in fact, not evidence based. The drive of athletes to return from injury faster promotes action and not reaction from physicians; therefore making a RCT very difficult as few would be prepared to enter through risk of receiving the placebo. However, sports and exercise medicine is a fast-paced field in its infancy and it will be very interesting to see what the Danish Sports Medicine symposium yields.

Competing interests: No competing interests

04 January 2015
Sam J McMeekin
Foundation Year Doctor
York Hospital