The Category of Conventional Physiotherapy: The Case of Parkinson’s Disease Guidelines

Abstract

This opinion paper reviews the use of the category of “conventional physiotherapy” (CPT) in Parkinson’s disease (PD)-relevant reviews and meta-analyses and points out serious inconsistencies within and among them. These are first discussed in general, leading to the conclusion that, in most cases, the category of CPT encompasses a range of incompatible interventions. This undermines previous conclusions about their superiority or inferiority relative to various other treatment modalities. Next, the update to the European Physiotherapy Guidelines is discussed in detail, since it treats CPT as a global and time-independent category per se, ascribing effects in various domains to it. This introduces several important biases into the findings presented in this publication. These are subsequently discussed, and it is concluded that the categorisation of various physiotherapy techniques under the umbrella term of CPT is empty, or even dangerous, and should be abandoned. Other categories are suggested as a replacement, including “Other Physiotherapy Techniques” and “Multimodal Training”.