Re: myoActivation for the treatment of pain and disability

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 61, No. 5, June 2019, Pages 201-202 Letters

Dr Suzanne Montemuro’s letter to the editor (BCMJ 2019;61:111) states that “[myoActivation] has been shown to be effective in treating chronic pain originating in the soft tissues in the elderly as well as children.” However, my searches of PubMed and Google Scholar yielded no studies to support this. In fact, the only publication I could find was the descriptive paper cited in Dr Montemuro’s letter, containing only hypotheses and a few case studies. This scarcely qualifies as evidence of efficacy, let alone effectiveness, of this intervention. While Dr Montemuro has had pain relief in association with this intervention, personal experience is simply that. As Hippocrates is quoted, “experience [is] fallacious, and judgment difficult.”

Chronic pain is poorly understood and interventions are challenging to evaluate. Nonetheless, while good study design can be difficult and certainly should have biostatistical advice in the planning, the scientific method remains public domain software. Isolated case reports are no substitute.
—Barry Koehler, MD, FRCPC
Delta

This letter was submitted in response to “MyoActivation for the treatment of pain & disability.”

Barry Koehler, MD. Re: myoActivation for the treatment of pain and disability. BCMJ, Vol. 61, No. 5, June, 2019, Page(s) 201-202 - Letters.



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