The Scenario...
Imagine you are a sufferer of low back pain. Your osteopath recommended you buy an all singing, all dancing "orthopaedic" mattress. You have looked at a few shops and bought one, which was quite expensive. However, a colleague tells you he has read an article saying normal mattresses are better than firm ones for backache. "Effect of firmness of mattress on chronic non-specific low-back pain: randomised, double-blind, controlled, multicentre trial" M Kovacs, V Abraira, A Peña, J G Martín-Rodríguez, M Sánchez-Vera, E Ferrer, D Ruano, P Guillén, M Gestoso, A Muriel, J Zamora, M TGil del Real, N Mufraggi.Lancet 2003; 362: 1599-604 It is important to bear this scenario in mind when you are reading the paper - a study can be perfectly well conducted and yet not provide relevant information for the context of the decision you are making. Also remember you are not reading the paper to see if it is perfect, but are reading it to see whether it is sufficiently free of bias and trustworthy so that it can to be of use for informing your decision in your particular context.
The Paper...
Please read the paper which can be downloaded by clicking here. Use the CASP checklist to help you appraise this paper critically. It can be downloaded as a PDF file that you can print up and write on by clicking here. We recommend that you do this to have a record of your answers.
The Quiz...
Please read the paper with the CASP checklist then click here to test your knowledge...