Risk and Physical Therapy?

David Newman, Stephen C. Allison

DOI: 10.2519/jospt.2007.0106

It is understandable that physical therapists prefer to focus on patient improvements rather than think about risk. But PTs must recognize that risk reduction is a postive result--indeed, an optimistic result--attainable through physical therapy. Physical therapists should make reporting absolute risk reduction (ARR), relative risk reduction (RRR), and number needed to treat (NNT), as well as the numbers of patients who fail to improve a meaningful amount (MCID). It's good to consider how physical therapy promotes good outcomes, but in some ways it's even more important to report how physical therapy interventions reduce risk for bad outcomes.

J Orthop Sports Phys Ther., 2007;37(6):287-289. doi:10.2519/jospt.2007.0106.

Physical therapists would do well to incorporate risk reduction in describing outcomes for therapy.

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