Learning, Communication, and Use of Evidence Based Practice in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Rehabilitation: An Exploratory Survey of French Physiotherapists.

Only 62 physiotherapists answered, against the roughly 400 the authors calculated would be needed for a 5% margin of error, so these percentages cannot be read as what French physiotherapists as a whole do. The participation rate was 0.38% of 16,354 invitations. People who answer a survey about evidence use are likely to be the ones already interested in it, so the real level of database use is probably lower than reported. Everything measured was self-reported, so answers may reflect what people remember or think they should do rather than what they do. The authors say this could overestimate evidence-based behaviour. The survey did not ask whether clinicians follow guidelines or protocols, or which return-to-sport tests they use, so it says nothing about guideline adherence or about patient outcomes. The group comparisons rest on small numbers. The experience comparison set 30 clinicians with 5 years or less of practice against 11 with more than 15 years, and the confidence intervals were wide. The authors call these hypothesis-generating signals rather than confirmed findings. The cross-sectional design means no cause can be inferred from any of the associations, and because no multivariable modelling was done, other differences between the groups were not accounted for.

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of the manuscript. The article does not report who funded the study, so there is no way to see whether any sponsor had a role in it.

Do not read the higher PubMed use among clinicians with 5 years or less of practice as evidence that they practise better, or that senior clinicians have fallen behind. The survey asked what people said they searched, not what they did with patients, the comparison rested on 30 respondents against 11, and the authors themselves describe these as hypothesis-generating signals rather than confirmed findings.