Physiotherapists’ self-reported competence to manage CLBP
<div class="ap_article_introduction"><p>This study shows that physiotherapists may have underdeveloped skills when it comes to performing risk stratification and identifying psychological factors related to chronic low back pain (CLBP).</p>
<p>Although this was a single-center study involving only 49 patients with CLBP, risk allocation was done correctly only in less than half the patients.</p>
<p>Additionally, correlations between therapist perceptions and patient-filled questionnaires regarding distress, depression, anxiety and kinesiophobia went from moderate to nonexistent.</p>
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<div class="ap_article_information"><p>The multifactorial nature of CLBP and its socioeconomic burden are well established. Psychological factors play a role in LBP chronicity and mental illness comorbidities are common in this population. Therefore, physiotherapists should be able to identify these factors and determine which patients are at a greater risk. However, the existing literature shows inconsistent results regarding this matter.</p>
<p>49 CLBP patients between 18-65 years old and 20 physiotherapists participated in the study. The therapists’ perceptions of a patient’s levels of distress, depression, anxiety and kinesiophobia were measured and correlated with patient-reported outcomes. Therapists also rated their competence in managing patients on a 0 to 10 scale.</p></div>
<div class="ap_article_conclusion"><p>Physiotherapists showed unsatisfactory (41%) accuracy in allocating patients into risk stratification groups or identifying psychological factors.</p>
<p>Patient-reported distress was found to be a negative predictor of therapist self-reported competence in managing CLBP.</p>
<p>These results show better therapist training is needed to deal with this population.</p></div>
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<p><em> > From: Brenner et al., Phys Ther 98 (2018) 471-479 (Epub ahead of print). All rights reserved to Oxford University Press. <a href="/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29385524" target="_blank">Click here for the online summary</a>.</em></p>
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