The problem of back pain in physiotherapists

The epidemiology, subjective perception of the cause, consequences and attitudes towards their back pain were compared in a representative group of 249 physiotherapists and a control group of 236 predominantly female workers from a wide range of non-medical occupations. In addition, the physiotherapists were asked about their involvement in back care education for others, their own training and their present speciality. A self-completion questionnaire was used and the results were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-X).There were no significant differences between the groups in the occurrence of lifetime prevalence (ever had back pain?), annual prevalence (back pain last year), annual incidence (new cases of back pain last year), and point prevalence (back pain now). The anatomical distribution was similar, as was the number of episodes. Earlier precautions to avoid further back pain did not affect the recurrence rate.Significantly more of the physiotherapists than the control groups identified the presence of occupational risk factors (P < 0.001)—physiotherapists attributed their back pain to work more frequently (P < 0.001) and the initial episode to an incident at work (P<0.01). For physiotherapists, lifting (P<0.05) and twisting (P<0.001) were more frequent mechanisms associated with the onset of back pain than for the control group.Younger physiotherapists were seen to be particularly vulnerable, having a higher than expected annual prevalence of back pain. This group was more satisfied with their own training in lifting skills, though only 52% reported continued training after qualification and only 63% had had training in the clinical field. The physiotherapists showed an ability to cope with their back pain. No speciality was consistently implicated.The possible explanations are discussed and the effectiveness of back care education is questioned. An ergonomic analysis of the working environment is recommended, in addition to a more realistic training programme for physiotherapists.