Putting aside that Reuters doesn’t know the difference between the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth and something it calls the “University of Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth,” their article about how osteopathic techniques “may” lessen back pain for pregnant women points out one of the difficulties when we in the news media try to report on the latest medical or scientific studies. Buried inside the piece:
Over the course of the study, women in the osteopathic group reported improved back pain and related symptoms, Licciardone noted in an email to Reuters Health. The sham ultrasound group reported no pain improvement and those in the standard care group reported increased pain. However, none of these differences were statistically significant.
Let me repeat: None of these differences were statistically significant.
Translation: We don’t really know anything new yet.
Science moves way more slowly than the news cycle.
3 comments
Reuters = French for correction
You just don’t understand today’s science – The Debate is Over!
Not sure why this is Front Burner news. Anyone with a statistical bent would turn their nose up at an n of 144 for a straightforward study like this. At least the UT/UNT part made me chuckle!