Towards evidence based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Bed rest after lumbar puncture.

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether a period of bed rest reduces the incidence of headache or other complications in patients undergoing diagnostic lumbar puncture. Altogether 85 papers were found using the reported search, of which five presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date, and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results, and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. A clinical bottom line is stated.