Are clinical physiotherapists using adjunct therapy? A questionnaire survey

Abstract

Background: Physiotherapists throughout the world are using adjunct therapy such as acupressure, acupuncture, magnet therapy etc., which is complementary to their physiotherapy skills and is often used in conjunction with it to relieve musculoskeletal pain. The objective of the current study was three fold: (i) whether clinical physiotherapists in Mumbai are using adjunct therapies along with physiotherapy or not; (ii) to find which is the most used adjunct therapy, and also; (iii) to find the reasons for learning and not-learning them. Method: A survey of 100 physiotherapists was conducted using a self-made questionnaire. Observations were made and data was analyzed. Result: 32% physiotherapists have learnt adjunct therapy, and acupressure was found to be the most learnt therapy (22%) and acupuncture being the second (18%). Conclusion: This study shows that majority of the physiotherapists are convinced about the benefits of physiotherapeutic exercises and treatment protocols and chose not to practice any adjunct therapy.