Knowledge and management of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis among practising physiotherapists

Abstract

It is essential for physiotherapists, who have an important role in the management of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), to have adequate knowledge about AIS. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the competency of a group of practicing physiotherapists in AIS in Türkiye. A total of 168 physiotherapists working in different health centers between September 2021 and December 2021 were included in the study. The data of this descriptive study were collected with the help of an online questionnaire. The online questionnaire regarding AIS consists of 20 questions prepared by the researchers after the literature review on this subject. Most of the participants were able to correctly answer the questions asked about AIS, including the definition (87.5%), the unknown etiology (72.6%), the age at which it occurs most often (81.5%), how the diagnosis of scoliosis was made (59.5%), the type of exercise recommend (61.3%), when brace can be recommended (73.8%). However, the knowledge level regarding the frequency of idiopathic scoliosis among all scoliosis cases was low (36.3%). AIS-related knowledge level scores of physiotherapists in age and years of clinical experience groups were similar (p<0.05). In addition, male physiotherapists working in a training and research hospital and dealing with a small number of AIS patients had significantly lower levels of AIS-related knowledge (p<0.05). In conclusion, with 67.5% of students able to answer >70% of the survey questions correctly, we demonstrated that the majority of practicing physiotherapists have a good level of knowledge about the definition, diagnosis, and management of AIS; however, some topics need to be improved with some theoretical and practical training after graduation. Physiotherapists need to be improved with some theoretical and practical training after graduation.