Prevalence and risk factors of thumb pain in Italian manual therapists: An observational cross-sectional study

Rossettini, Giacomo; Rondoni, Angie; Schiavetti, Irene; Tezza, Sonia; Testa, Marco

doi:10.3233/wor-162289

Cited by 23 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…More experienced physiotherapists were found to suffer less due to the adoption of good work practices and appropriate work equipment. This finding is in line with previous research that has also identified that inexperience exposes manual therapists to a higher risk of developing injuries such as thumb pain [11] .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Greek Physiotherapists: Traditional and Emerging Risk Factors

Anyfantis

Biska

2018

Safety and Health at Work

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BackgroundMusculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the health industry are quite common, however, there have only been a few studies regarding physiotherapists, while in Greece, there is an apparent lack of research and data. The aim of this study is to investigate MSDs experienced by physiotherapists in Greece, their causes and specific measures, and good practices followed. Additional emerging risk factors will be examined.MethodsA questionnaire of MSDs followed by individual and workplace characteristics was completed by 252 physiotherapists. It covered the major workplace categories such as public hospitals, private rehabilitation centers, and private practices.ResultsAnalysis indicated that 89% of the respondents had experienced a work-related MSD; 32.2% of those injuries occurred within the first 5 years of working. The most lumbered physiotherapists were those working as private practitioners and almost half of the injured respondents chose to work while injured. The most common measure taken to tackle work related MSDs was found to be physical therapy sessions. Job satisfaction and psychosocial issues were also identified as side-effects of the economic slowdown.ConclusionPhysiotherapists in Greece were found to suffer from MSDs; workplace musculoskeletal injuries were quite common but under-reported. The body parts most affected were the lower back, the upper back, the shoulders, and the neck. There was a strong correlation between the workplace setting and the number of MSDs. A well-defined occupational safety and health management system and strict administration steering were found to reduce MSDs. The economic slowdown experienced in Greece during the execution of this study placed additional pressure on physiotherapists.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Greek Physiotherapists: Traditional and Emerging Risk Factors

Anyfantis

Biska

2018

Safety and Health at Work

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“…A high response rate was achieved (61.6%) as compared to previous studies on placebos (from 40.0% to 60.0%)[19–21,25,26], confirming the willingness of Italian OMTs to participate in the survey[44]. A specific group of Italian physical therapists with OMT specializations (n = 906) who are educated to manage mainly musculoskeletal disorders in the private healthcare sector[75] was involved.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…A nationwide sample of Italian physical therapists specialized in OMTs was the target population identified from the complete email database of the Master in Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MRDM) of Genoa University (n = 906). This advanced educational program captures almost the totality of the Italian physical therapists specialized as OMTs[44]; moreover, it represents the oldest academic post-graduate program in manual therapy in Italy[45], based upon the standards established by the International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Physical Therapists[46].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical therapists’ perspectives on using contextual factors in clinical practice: Findings from an Italian national survey

Rossettini¹,

Palese

Geri³

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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BackgroundContextual factors (CFs) represent a potential therapeutic tool to boost physiotherapy outcomes, triggering placebo effects. Nevertheless, no evidence about the use of CFs among physical therapists is currently available.ObjectiveTo investigate the use of CFs and the opinion of Italian physical therapists specialized in Orthopaedic Manual Therapy (OMTs) on their therapeutic benefits.DesignAn exploratory cross-sectional online survey.MethodsA 17-item questionnaire and 2 clinical vignettes assessed the perspective of OMTs on the adoption of CFs in daily clinical practice. The target population was composed of 906 OMTs. An online survey was performed in 2016 using SurveyMonkey Software. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics.ResultsA total of 558 volunteers (61.6% of the target OMT population) participated in the study. Half of the participants (52.0%) claimed to use CFs frequently in their practice. More of 50% of OMTs valued the therapeutic significance of CFs for different health problems as determined by a combined psychological and physiological effect. OMTs considered the use of CFs ethically acceptable when they exert beneficial therapeutic effects and their effectiveness has emerged in previous clinical experiences (30.6%). They disagreed on the adoption of CFs when they are deceptive (14.1%). Moreover, OMTs did not communicate the adoption of CFs to patients (38.2%), and CFs were usually used in addition to other interventions to optimize clinical responses (19.9%). Psychological mechanisms, patient’s expectation and conditioning were believed to be the main components behind CFs (7.9%).LimitationsConsidering that the data collected were self-reported and retrospective, recall and response biases may limit the internal and external validity of the findings.ConclusionsOMTs used CFs in their clinical practice and believed in their therapeutic effect. The knowledge of CFs, placebo and nocebo mechanisms and their clinical effects should be included in physical therapists’ university studies.

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“…Such devices offer a relevant alternative to the MM, due to the fatigue of the physiotherapist, and the loss of efficiency resulting from repetitive practice. Accordingly, many professionals suffer from pathologies such as musculoskeletal disorder due to the amount of exposure to repeated uncomfortable postures, maneuvers and manipulations (Albert et al, 2008;Murali et al, 2014;Rossettini et al, 2016). Another strength of robotic devices delivering massages is the opportunity to homogenize massage techniques, such as the palpate-rolling in the context of anticellulite (Xiaoqin and Yonggen, 2010;Mezencevová et al, 2017).…”

Section: Robotic Massage: An Emerging Paradigm the Instrumentalizatiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Selective Effects of Manual Massage and Foam Rolling on Perceived Recovery and Performance: Current Knowledge and Future Directions Toward Robotic Massages

et al. 2020

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Manual massage and foam rolling are commonly used by athletes for warm-up and recovery, as well as by healthy individuals for well-being. Manual massage is an ancient practice requiring the intervention of an experienced physiotherapist, while foam rolling is a more recent self-administered technique. These two topics have been largely studied in isolation from each other. In the present review, we first provide a deep quantitative literature analysis to gather the beneficial effects of each technique through an integrative account, as well as their psychometric and neurophysiological evaluations. We then conceptually consider the motor control strategies induced by each type of massage. During manual massage, the person remains passive, lying on the massage table, and receives unanticipated manual pressure by the physiotherapist, hence resulting in a retroactive mode of action control with an ongoing central integration of proprioceptive feedback. In contrast, while performing foam rolling, the person directly exerts pressures through voluntary actions to manipulate the massaging tool, therefore through a predominant proactive mode of action control, where operations of forward and inverse modeling do not require sensory feedback. While these opposite modes of action do not seem to offer any compromise, we then discuss whether technological advances and collaborative robots might reconcile proactive and retroactive modes of action control during a massage, and offer new massage perspectives through a stochastic sensorimotor user experience. This transition faculty, from one mode of control to the other, might definitely represent an innovative conceptual approach in terms of human-machine interactions.

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Prevalence and risk factors of thumb pain in Italian manual therapists: An observational cross-sectional study

Abstract: Special attention should be paid to prevention during manual skills training, since inexperience exposes manual therapist to a higher risk of developing thumb pain.

Cited by 23 publications

References 29 publications

Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Greek Physiotherapists: Traditional and Emerging Risk Factors

Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Greek Physiotherapists: Traditional and Emerging Risk Factors

Physical therapists’ perspectives on using contextual factors in clinical practice: Findings from an Italian national survey

Selective Effects of Manual Massage and Foam Rolling on Perceived Recovery and Performance: Current Knowledge and Future Directions Toward Robotic Massages

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