Enhancing research methods: The role of systematic and scoping reviews in orthopaedics, sports medicine and rehabilitation

Abstract

Efforts to improve research standards in orthopaedics, sports medicine, physical therapy, and rehabilitation are ongoing. Rrehabilitation andomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are widely regarded as the gold standard for the collection of primary data. Similarly, systematic reviews, due to their methodological rigor, have become the gold standard for evidence synthesis in medicine. However, while narrative reviews often lack scientific rigor and systematic reviews are not suited to addressing all research questions, other robust review formats are necessary. When the outcomes of interest are unknown or difficult to define in advance, scoping or mapping reviews are more appropriate, as they can address a broader range of questions within the field. Consequently, it is essential to establish rigorous methods for conducting scoping reviews across medical disciplines.