Are rheumatology field professionals scientifically prepared to rehabilitate using exercise? A cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Objective

To assess rheumatology professionals' knowledge about the physical exercise.

Methods

A cross-sectional study. We included Bachelors of Physical Education and Physical Therapists because they are professionals who use exercise as a therapeutic intervention for musculoskeletal rehabilitation. We assessed their knowledge using structured questions based on the EULAR. We used the Chi-squared test (α = 5 %) to compare the number of correct and incorrect answers and calculated the effect size (w value) by dividing the chi-squared value by the number of scores and taking the square root (small: w = 0.10, medium: w = 0.30, and large: w ≥ 0.50).

Results

The sample of this study consists of 116 health professionals with a mean age of 34.43 (±8.71) years. The majority are women and Physical Therapists. Regarding the health professionals’ knowledge about the use of exercise in patients with musculoskeletal disorders, we observed a significant number of incorrect answers (p < 0.001) to the EULAR questions. Clinically, the large effect size (w ≥ 0.5) for the number of errors indicated a worrying situation for the musculoskeletal rehabilitation scenario.

Conclusion

Bachelors of physical education, as well as physical therapists, are not scientifically prepared to rehabilitate people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases through physical exercise.