Physical therapists' perception of patients' pain and its affect on management

Abstract

In this sample there exists a common link between experience and evaluative findings: the longer PTs have been practicing the more proficient they become in performing and interpreting a thorough subjective and objective evaluation. PTs practicing in pain clinics were found to have a more holistic and multidisciplinary approach to patient care, whereas therapists practicing in outpatient and sports medicine facilities were more apt to focus on patients' physical symptoms and complaints. Four main themes of perceived patient pain and their corresponding management were developed: (1) patients presenting with legitimate/acute pain profiles render a slow, conservative approach by the PT; (2) patients presenting with debilitating/chronic pain were most often treated with an approach that stressed functional gains and patient independence; (3) the preferred treatment of patients characterized with a non-legitimate pain profile was an aggressive and multidisciplinary approach; (4) 'special cases' and their management were dependent upon the patient's functional level and pain tolerance.

Meta-ethnography to understand healthcare professionals’ experience of treating adults with chronic non-malignant pain

“…We excluded 16 studies that were not qualitative or that included limited qualitative data. 36–51 We agreed that 85 studies were out of scope 52–136 (eg, they did not present the HCP voice or they did not explore the experience of chronic pain). Of the 83 studies remaining, we unanimously excluded six on the grounds of methodological report.…”

Physiotherapists’ Pain Beliefs and Their Influence on the Management of Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain

“…. Although, yes, my eldest is 19, my youngest is 13, but gradually during the years I'm wondering if it's gradually got worse, and posture has a lot to do with it which I didn't realize, and I do tend to slouch(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11).Whether that caused anything to do with my back I don't know. I really and truthfully don't know(22)(23).…”

“…This is because beliefs about pain could potentially influence physiotherapists' behavior, such as the choice of treatment strategy 4 or advice given to patients. 5 This is suggested to influence the therapeutic encounter by guiding treatment outcomes or by affecting patients' beliefs and behavior. 6 The definition of "pain beliefs" for the purpose of this research study was "any person's thoughts about what pain is and what it means to them.…”

A review of the psychotherapeutic ‘common factors’ model and its application in physical therapy: the need to consider general effects in physical therapy practice

“…Guided by the psychotherapy common factors and drawing upon our clinical experience in physical therapy, we purposively identified apparent similarities between physical therapy and psychotherapy factors while reviewing the literature for this article. Examples of factors that appear to influence physical therapy outcomes include client expectations (32), client satisfaction (41–43), physical therapist beliefs (44), therapeutic relationship (45–48), physical therapist pain beliefs (49) and provision of feedback (50). These closely overlap the psychotherapy common factors.…”