Focus and Value Added: The New Case Report

Abstract

In the early 1990s, Editor in Chief Emeritus Jules Rothstein, PT, PhD, FAPTA, and the Physical Therapy ( PTJ ) Editorial Board recognized the need for more case reports in the physical therapy literature. Descriptions of physical therapist practice were relatively few in number and often lacking in credibility and replicable detail. Rothstein and the Editorial Board viewed case reports as an important venue for sharing the experiences and challenges that physical therapists faced in clinical, managerial, and educational environments and for describing the creative ways in which physical therapists dealt with those experiences and challenges. The editors also realized that physical therapists needed guidance in how to tell their stories effectively. In 1996, APTA published Writing Case Reports: A How-to Manual for Clinicians , a step-by-step “field manual” that guided potential authors through the process of writing and submitting a case report. Edited by Irene McEwen (with contributions from Vincent Basile, PT, MS, …