Profession-based manual therapy nomenclature: exploring history, limitations, and opportunities.
Brian Degenhardt, Patrick L S van Dun, Eric Jacobson, Sandy Fritz, Paul Mettler, Norman Kettner, G Franklin, Kendi Hensel, David Lesondak, Giacomo Consorti, Leah Frank, William R Reed, Cameron MacDonald, Vaclav Kremen, Crystal Martin, Bernie Landels, Paul Standley
PMID 38104312WHAT IT FOUND
This paper describes a consensus process to standardize manual therapy terminology across five professions.
It reports no clinical outcomes, patient data, or evidence of treatment efficacy. There are no findings here to change clinical practice.
What this paper is
This paper reports the process and outputs of a consensus group (the International Consortium on Manual Therapies) developing unified terminology and definitions for manual therapy professions. It describes how 43 members from five professions and basic science created focus groups, mind maps, and a glossary to standardize nomenclature. It contains no patient participants, no clinical interventions tested for efficacy, and no outcome data. Therefore, there are no findings to act on clinically.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the development of a unified glossary or mind maps as evidence that any manual therapy technique is effective or safe. This paper reports on professional consensus and terminology, not clinical trials or patient outcomes.