In this letter, the speaker suggests that all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain should better take antibiotics. to support the recommendation, the author cited a study showing that the group of patients who took antibiotics regularly throughout their treatment recovers faster than the other group that did not. However, a close scrutiny reveals that the suggestion is problematic in several critical aspects.
in the first place, theauthorfailed to show the study upon which it is conducted to be reliable statistically. the patients are not necessarily having the secondary infections. without this restriction, all the conclusion based on the study may be hasty and groundless. to make the suggestion more convincing, the author should come up with evidence that directly shows the effect of treatment on the patients who already had the secondary infections.
even assuming that the patients in the study had the secondary infection, the study itself is not objectively conducted as it should be. firstly, the patients are notindicated to have been randomly separated, so it is
c ompletely possible thatfirst group is less ill or much healthier and stronger than the other group; secondly, the two groups do not share the same doctor, surprisingly, the first group have a doctor who specializes in sports medicines while the other group have only a general physician, which can make a big difference on the two groups both physically and mentally; and thirdly, the two groups are not indicated to have the same treatment except for the antibiotics part, maybe the first group had other medicine other than antibiotics, or perhaps the first group are treated in special hospitals while the other group only receives treatment at home. to take all these into consideration, the study did not prove to be convincing and any conclusion based on it can be misleading.
even if antibiotics really help some patients to recover more quickly, the speaker's suggestion still overlooks the possibility that antibiotics cannot be used in every case. perhaps some patients are allergic to antibiotics, or perhaps the patients are pregnant or have other disease that cannot take antibiotics. the suggestion is too absolute that can lead to mistreat.
in conclusion, the recommendation are not convincing as it stands.
to better evaluate the recommendation, the author should make sure that all the patients studied are roughly in the same condition including having the secondary infections, and they receive the same treatment by the same doctor. if the result proves antibiotics do help recovery, we can recommend it to people who want to recover faster on the condition that they can stand it, physically and economically.