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ABSTRACT
Background
Physical therapists (PTs) should know how to best treat patients with inflammatory arthritis.
Objective
To document interventions chosen by PTs for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and whether choices follow evidence-based practice.
Methods
Licensed musculoskeletal PTs in Quebec, Canada responded to an online survey. Descriptive statistics illustrated proportions for each treatment choice and inferential statistics explored associations with demographic and practice-related factors.
Results
There were 298 PTs who responded to the survey. For both RA and AS respectively, most common interventions were mobility exercises (91.0%; 98.3%) and patient education (90.1%; 92.8%). For both cases, slightly >60% selected strengthening exercises. Passive forms of therapy were chosen by 36% of PTs for RA and 58% for AS. Aerobic exercise was rarely selected. PTs working in the public sector were less likely to use manual therapy for both RA (Odds Ratio (OR) 0.43, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.22,0.86) and AS (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.22,0.97).
Conclusions
Most PTs chose mobility exercises and patient education, representing evidence-based approaches. Despite current recommendations, strengthening and especially aerobic exercises were not used as much. There is a need to increase awareness regarding the benefits of strengthening and aerobic exercise for these patients.
Acknowledgments
We received funding from the Canadian Initiative for Outcomes in Rheumatology Care (CIORA) and the PRogramme d’Excellence en Médecine pour l’Initiation En Recherche (PREMIER).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.