Article

Patients with low back pain (LBP) often display faulty beliefs and cognitions
regarding their pain experience. Pain neuroscience education (PNE) aims to alter
the pain experience by targeting these faulty beliefs and cognitions. One PNE
strategy aims specifically to reframe commonly held beliefs about tissues by
patients with LBP as the single source of pain. In line with this reasoning, it
is hypothesized that physical therapists (PT) treating patients with LBP may
indeed experience similar, if not worse, pain experiences while treating a
patient with LBP. To date, this assumption has never been studied. A PT LBP
questionnaire was developed, validated and distributed to a convenience sample of
attendees of an international PT conference. One-hundred and ten PTs completed
the questionnaire for a 71% response rate. Ninety percent of the PTs reported
having experienced LBP, with 27% at the conference experiencing LBP at the time.
Of the PTs that have experienced LBP 75% reported not having received any
imaging; 81% no formal diagnoses, 58% no treatment and 86% not having missed work
due to LBP. Eighty-six percent of therapists reported having experienced LBP
while treating a patient with LBP, with 50% convinced their LBP was higher than
the LBP experienced by the patient they were treating. The results from this
study indicate PTs often treat patients with LBP while suffering LBP. It is
suggested that this knowledge may potentially help patients with LBP reconceptualize their LBP experience leading to expedited recovery.

Langue : ANGLAIS