The July issue opens with three editorials.

One editorial introduces virtual hospitals, why we need them, how they work and how physiotherapy is incorporated into this new model of care.

Another editorial explains why physiotherapy associations need to join the Choosing Wisely campaign, outlines the missed opportunities from physiotherapy associations around the world and proposes solutions to maximise the impact of Choosing Wisely on future physiotherapy practice.

The third editorial introduces an Article Collection on the prevention of spinal pain.

The winner of the Readers’ Choice Award is announced, which by several metrics is the Journal’s most successful paper ever.

Mark Elkins

The research papers include a complex mediation analysis of reassurance in low back pain and a systematic review of transcranial direct current stimulation.

Some of the other papers in the issue are highlighted in more detail below.

Professor Marco Pang provides our largest Invited Topical Review to date, which examines physiotherapy management of Parkinson’s disease.

After reviewing the literature about prevalence, diagnosis and assessment, the majority of this paper meta-analyses only the most robust evidence about the effects of each physiotherapy treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

This process identifies 14 interventions that have each been shown to be beneficial by a systematic review and meta-analysis of multiple randomised trials.

Recent research papers in the Journal of Physiotherapy have confirmed the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of group-based pelvic floor classes for women.

The group format allows efficient delivery of the intervention to more women, but a longitudinal qualitative study by Ana Carolina Fernandes and colleagues from Brazil shows that there could be many other advantages.

Women who participated in group-based education about the pelvic floor found the content and format appropriate and useful.

Many believed that the intervention would benefit other women, both with and without pelvic floor dysfunction, and would ideally be more widely available as a public health intervention.

Many shared their new knowledge with other women. Their perception of the value of the education persisted over time.

Patient education, exercise therapy and weight management are recommended by all major guidelines as first-line interventions for people with knee osteoarthritis.

The evidence supporting the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness for exercise therapy and weight management has been synthesised in recent systematic reviews, and Anthony Goff and colleagues from Melbourne provide an up-to-date evidence synthesis for patient education.

Their findings indicate that patient education does reduce pain and improve function compared with usual care.

However, when education is used in isolation, these effects may be too small to be considered worthwhile by patients. In contrast, combining patient education with exercise therapy produces clinically important improvements in function and is recommended by the authors.

With over 600 participants, our largest mixed methods study ever comes from Professor Kim Bennell, Professor Rana Hinman and colleagues from Australia. It examines telephysiotherapy using videoconferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patients and physiotherapists had overall positive experiences using videoconferencing for individual consultations and group classes. The results suggest that videoconferencing is a viable option for the delivery of physiotherapy care in the future.

The rest of the issue contains appraisal of research related to topics as diverse as quadriceps muscle ultrasound, an updated version of the Physical Function in ICU test (PFIT), botulinum toxin-A, inherited bleeding disorders, and movement guidelines for children and youth.

Click here to read these and other papers from the latest and past issues for free, and to view the growing number of Article Collections.

>>Clinical Associate Professor Mark Elkins, APAM, is the scientific editor of Journal of Physiotherapy. Follow him on Twitter @ JOP_Editor and follow the Journal @JPhysiother.