ABSTRACT

Introduction: In today’s modern lifestyle, lumbar pain syndrome is quite widespread in all age groups, which creates a serious not only health problem, but also a socio-economic problem.

Aim: To examine the incidence of LBS among physiotherapists working in the Special Hospital for Medical Rehabilitation in Varaždinske Toplice.

Materials and methods: The research was conducted using a questionnaire created for this research and an International Physical Activity Questionnaire on the occasion of physiotherapists working in the Special Hospital for Medical Rehabilitation in Varaždinska Toplica. Question about low back pain consists of three parts. The first part includes socio-demographic data. In the 2nd part, the occurrence of LBS is examined, while in the 3rd part, it is examined in which department they work and if they engage in physical activity and how they spend their free time. International Physical Activity Questionnaire consists of 7 questions, which obtained data on the amount of time spent in a certain type of physical activity.

Results: 81 respondents took part in the research, which is 62% out of the total number of employed physiotherapists. Of these, 60 (74.1%) were female and 21 (25.9%) were male. The average age of the respondents is a median of 43 years, with a minimum age range of 24 to a maximum of 63 years. More than half of the respondents (70.4%) reported the incidence of LBS. A greater number of male physiotherapists (81.0%) suffer from LBS, while female colleagues have the same percentage (66.7%). Respondents engaged in physical activity (58.3%) did not experience LBS. In addition to the classical method of treatment, physiotherapists often resort to other forms of treatment when LBS occurs, so 14.8% of them practice the use of massage. Furthermore, 12.3% of them go to acupuncture, while 12.3% take natural products such as vitamins and minerals to prevent LBS.

Conclusion: Physiotherapists have reported the incidence of LBS, more than half of the respondents are engaged in physical activity and are interested in other forms of treatment besides classical.

Key words: low back pain syndrome, physiotherapy, degenerative changes, rehabilitation