Trends of patients undergoing physiotherapy at tertiary care hospital – A Retrospective study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are prevalent across the globe, and in India are the commonest causes of long-term pain and disability, affecting millions of people. As physiotherapy plays an important role in preventing and helping in recovering these MSDs. This study is aimed to determine the trend of musculoskeletal conditions among patients undergoing physiotherapy treatment at tertiary care hospital. In a tertiary setup, a particular trend of the disorder might help in formulating a new treatment program that will involve physiotherapy & prevention strategies. PURPOSE – To study the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions in patients undergoing physiotherapy at tertiary care hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a retrospective observational study in a tertiary care setup. Trends of patients having different musculoskeletal disorders have been observed from January 2022 to January 2023. The Disorders were divided into traumatic and non-traumatic categories. After arranging the data condition-wise analysis was done and the percentage of each condition was calculated accordingly. A total of (n = 6413) patient’s one-year data was analysed for different musculoskeletal conditions. RESULTS: Results showed a majority of disorders that patients in the rural setup are experiencing are lower limb fractures accounting for 44.0%, low back pain at 31.12%, and neck pain at 21.25% of all conditions. CONCLUSION: There is a high prevalence of occupation-related musculoskeletal disorders comprising back pain and neck pain under a non-traumatic domain & lower limb fracture under a traumatic domain in tertiary care hospital. Attempts should be made to educate the rural population about physiotherapy and prevention strategies related to increased work demands, to prevent trauma.