Diagnosing and treating upper back pain: insights from New Zealand's manipulative physiotherapists and osteopaths.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Manual therapy is routinely used in the management of upper back pain (UBP), a disabling condition. However, the approach to diagnosis and treatment techniques used by manipulative physiotherapists and osteopaths is largely unknown.

Objectives

To explore knowledge about UBP, including diagnosis and treatment, by New Zealand (NZ) osteopaths and manipulative physiotherapists and to investigate differences (if any) in the self-reported approaches to diagnosis and management of UBP between the professions.

Design

A cross-sectional survey administered through an online platform (Qualtrics) between September 2023 and January 2024.

Participants

One hundred and ten NZ osteopaths and manipulative physiotherapists completed the survey.

Results

Forty-eig

SUBMITTER: Kovanur Sampath K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11924269 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature