Strengths and Limitations
The major strength of our study is that this is a large prospective study performed in athletes with PT, with structured data collection by a single trained researcher (S.J.B.). The VISA-P score was administered in a standardized way before performing physical tests. Thus, a potential influence on physical test results was avoided as much as possible. Most of the physical test methods have good reliability, and measurement was conducted by the same person, which can reduce the measurement error. Additionally, we performed a sensitivity analysis based on the imputation of data and complete-case data, which enhanced the robustness of our results.The limitations of our study should also be addressed. First, although a prospective study is the preferable design to answer prognostic questions, a randomized trial can be implemented by combining intervention and control groups and then adjusting the treatment variable in the prognostic model.