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Clinical practice pattern of low back pain among physiotherapists in a low-income country
  • Mohammad Ali,
  • Zakir Uddin,
  • Ahmed Hossain
Mohammad Ali
Uttara Adhunik Medical College

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Zakir Uddin
McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences
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Ahmed Hossain
North South University
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Abstract

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the top global cause of disability and physiotherapy interventions are used to manage it. However, the practice pattern of physiotherapists dealing with LBP patients in low-income countries are limited. Aim: The study aims to explore the LBP practice pattern of a low-income country’s ( i. e., Bangladeshi) physiotherapists by their demographic and professional factors. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey study, we have analyzed data from randomly selected 423 physiotherapists of Bangladesh who have invited to fill-up an online survey questionnaire about practice patterns. The first part of the questionnaire contained question demographic and professional background, second part included current intervention choices in the management of patients with LBP, the final part consisted of information on diagnosis, patient type and self-reported cure rate of LBP patients. Ethical approval: Clinical Trial Registry India: CTRI/2020/05/025313. Results: The Majority of the physiotherapists (54.8%) were non-government service holders and 87.7% worked in the town area. Regarding recommended interventions, only 12.3% frequently used those and 21.5% didn’t either offer or know about those interventions. For not recommended interventions, 69.3% occasionally, 13.5% frequently and 17.3% never used such interventions. The prevalence of good, moderate, and poor practice patterns was 14%, 62.4%, and 23.6% respectively. Participants‘ marital status (P = 0.003) and graduation institute category (P = 0.002) were significant factors for practice pattern variation. Conclusion: The study justified physiotherapy management status in a low-income country by comparing evidence-based practice guidelines. This finding set as a low-income country database to exhibit future research, clinical practice, and education for better LBP physiotherapy management adherence to evidence-based public health care.