Manual Therapy
Volume 12, Issue 2 , Pages 167-175, May 2007

Attitudes to back pain amongst musculoskeletal practitioners: A comparison of professional groups and practice settings using the ABS-mp

  • Tamar Pincus

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX.
    • ,
  • Nadine E Foster

      Affiliations

    • Primary Care Sciences Research Centre, Keele University, UK
    • ,
  • Steven Vogel

      Affiliations

    • The Research Centre, British School of Osteopathy, UK
    • ,
  • Rita Santos

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK
    • ,
  • Alan Breen

      Affiliations

    • Institute for Musculoskeletal Research and Clinical Implementation, AECC, Parkwood Road, Bournemouth BH5 2DF, UK
    • ,
  • Martin Underwood

      Affiliations

    • Centre for Health Sciences, Barts and The London, Queen Mary University of London, UK

Received 19 May 2005; received in revised form 6 February 2006; accepted 2 June 2006.

Abstract 

Chiropractors, osteopaths and physiotherapists play key roles in the management of low back pain (LBP) patients in the UK. We investigated the attitudes of these three professional groups to back pain using a recently developed and validated questionnaire, the Attitudes to Back Pain Scale for musculoskeletal practitioners (ABS-mp). A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was sent to 300 of each professional group . Responses were analysed from 465 practitioners: 132 chiropractors (28%), 159 osteopaths (34%) and 174 physiotherapists (37%). Overall, all three groups endorse a psychosocial approach to treatment, and see re-activation as a primary goal. However, physiotherapists and osteopaths tend to endorse attitudes towards limiting the number of treatment sessions offered to LBP patients more than chiropractors, and chiropractors endorse a more biomedical approach than physiotherapists. When practice setting (NHS versus private practice) was considered (in physiotherapists alone), physiotherapists working for the NHS endorsed limiting the number of treatment sessions more than those working in the private sector and would also less frequently advise their patients to restrict activities and be vigilant. The results may help explain current clinical practice patterns observed in these groups and their uptake of clinical guideline recommendations.

Keywords: Attitudes, Back pain, Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Physiotherapists

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PII: S1356-689X(06)00082-8

doi:10.1016/j.math.2006.06.005

Manual Therapy
Volume 12, Issue 2 , Pages 167-175, May 2007

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