Sharing decision-making between patient and clinician: the next step in evidence-based practice for patellofemoral pain?

The ‘Best Practice Guide to Conservative Management of Patellofemoral Pain’ synthesised level 1 evidence from highquality systematic reviews with international expert opinion. The associated publication and guide (see table 1) provides a tool to facilitate research translation and evidence-based practice (EBP) in the management of patellofemoral pain (PFP). This tool is freely available to clinicians treating PFP worldwide. The ‘Best Practice Guide’ outlines available evidence for various passive, active and educational interventions. However, it makes up just one of the three key components of EBP. By definition, EBP incorporates (1) the best external evidence, (2) the clinician’s individual experience, and (3) the patient’s beliefs and expectations. Therefore, the published guide alone does not capture the clinicians experience related to the perception of how this evidence might apply to an individual patient (point 2, above), or the patient’s values and preferences (point 3, above). Disregarding these factors may impair clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.