Clinically Proven?

This might be responding to a serious health crisis like cancer, or it could be responding to something more minor, but no less confusing.  For example, chronic "tennis elbow" or lateral elbow pain has as many proposed solutions as proposed causes of the condition itself.  For the average consumer, there is no way to determine what the right course of action might be aside from relying on the perspective of their health care provider...whomever that might be.  

Andrew Pollack from the Evidence Gap series does an excellent job of portraying how, even in the face of strong evidence, certain treatments don't catch on through the example of diuretics, hypertension, and the Allhat study:   The Minimal Impact of a Big Hypertension Study.  Placing the blame solely on the pharmaceutical reps may not be appreciating all the factors that come into play when evidence-based practice is examined at the level of a health system.

However, placing the blame of the pharmaceutical companies sure is fun, especially as I sit through advertisement after advertisement on TV touting each drug to be "clinically proven."  Nonsense!

Afterall, we know that in science, there is no such thing as proof.   It's a moving target.