Clinical Prediction Rules

Clinical Prediction Rules (CPRs)

CPRs are mathematical tools that are intended to guide physiotherapists in their everyday clinical decision making. The popularity of CPRs has increased greatly over the past few years .

In many ways much of the art of physiotherapy boils down to playing the percentages and predicting outcomes. For example, when physiotherapists do a subjective assessment with a patient they ask the questions that they think are the most likely to provide them with the information they need to make a diagnosis. They might then order the objective assessment tests that they think are the most likely to support or refute their various differential diagnoses. With each new piece of the puzzle some hypotheses will become more likely and others less likely. At the end of the assessment the physiotherapist will decide which intervention is likely to result in the optimal outcome for the patient, based on the information they have collected (reference pending) .

Given that the above process is the underlying principle of physiotherapy clinical practice, and bearing in mind the ever increasing time constraints imposed on physiotherapists, it is unsurprising that a great deal of work has been done to facilitate physiotherapists and patients to make decisions. This work in referred to by many names: CPRs, prediction rules, probability assessments, prediction models, decision rules, risk scores, etc. All describe the combination of multiple predictors, such as patient characteristics and investigation results, to estimate the probability of certain outcomes or to identify which treatment is most likely to be effective (reference pending) .

Diagnosis

• Canadian Cervical Spine Rules
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Cervical Radiculopathy
• Deep Vein Thrombosis
• Meniscal Pathology
• Ottawa Ankle Rules
• Ottawa Knee Rules
• Pittsburgh Knee Rules
• Pulmonary Embolism
• Rotator Cuff Pathology
• Subacromial Impingement

Intervention

• Cervicothoracic Manipulation for Shoulder Pain
• CPR for Lumbar Stabilisation
• Hip Mobilization for Knee Osteoarthritis
• Manipulation for Low Back Pain
• Mechanical Traction for Low Back Pain
• Mechanical Traction for Neck Pain
• Manipulation for Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
• Orthotics for Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
• Patellar Taping for Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
• Stabilization for Low Back Pain
• Thoracic Manipulation for Neck Pain
• Cervical Manipulation for Neck Pain