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Bishop, A, Holden, MA, Ogollah, RO and Foster, NE (2016) Current management of pregnancy-related low back pain: a national cross-sectional survey of UK physiotherapists. Physiotherapy, 102 (1). 78 - 85. ISSN 0031-9406
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pregnancy-related low back pain (LBP) is very common. Evidence from a systematic review supports the use of exercise and acupuncture, although little is known about the care received by women with pregnancy-related back pain in the UK. OBJECTIVE: To describe current acupuncture and standard care management of pregnancy-related LBP by UK physiotherapists. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of physiotherapists with experience of treating women with pregnancy-related LBP from three professional networks of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. METHODS: In total, 1093 physiotherapists were mailed a questionnaire. The questionnaire captured respondents' demographic and practice setting information, and experience of managing women with pregnancy-related back pain, and investigated the reported management of pregnancy-related LBP using a patient case vignette of a specific, 'typical' case. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 58% (629/1093). Four hundred and ninety-nine physiotherapists had experience of treating women with pregnancy-related LBP and were included in the analysis. Most respondents worked wholly or partly in the UK National Health Service (78%). Most respondents reported that they treat patients with pregnancy-related LBP in three to four one-to-one treatment sessions over 3 to 6 weeks. The results show that a range of management strategies are employed for pregnancy-related LBP, and multimodal management is common. The most common reported treatment was home exercises (94%), and 24% of physiotherapists reported that they would use acupuncture with the patient described in the vignette. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first robust data on the management of pregnancy-related LBP by UK physiotherapists. Multimodal management is common, although exercise is the most frequently used treatment for pregnancy-related LBP. Acupuncture is used less often for this patient group.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Pregnancy, Low back pain, Physiotherapy, Acupuncture, Survey |
Subjects: | |
Divisions: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine |
Related URLs: | |
Depositing User: | Symplectic |
Date Deposited: | 11 Mar 2016 12:22 |
Last Modified: | 14 Jul 2017 10:31 |
URI: | https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/id/eprint/1561 |