Pattern of Spinal Pain Managed at the Physiotherapy Department of a Tertiary Health Institution in Nigeria

Abstract

Spinal pain (SP) is one of the clinical conditions managed at the  orthopaedic unit of physiotherapy departments of hospitals all over the world. There is a dearth of information on the pattern of SP being  managed in these departments. The aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of SP managed at the physiotherapy outpatient department of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Newly referred SP cases seen at the outpatient unit of the physiotherapy department, University College Hospital, Ibadan, from January 2006 to December 2010, were identified from the departmental patients’ attendance register. Socio-demographic and clinical information were obtained from the case notes and recorded in a self-designed data recording form. These data were then analysed using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation and percentage. The results showed that the cases of SP involved patients between the ages of 13-89 years with a mean age of 53.42±15.08 years. Patients in the age group of 60 years and above had the highest  prevalence (35.23%) of spinal pain. Cases with SP constituted 59.2% of all the cases managed; and more females (62.9%) were reported to have SP. Lumbar spondylosis was the mostly recorded diagnosis while there was no record of coccydynia during the study period. Outcome measures were underutilized with no record of reported outcome measures for the majority of the patients (51.44%). Physiotherapists discharge rate of SP was 9.14%.
It can be concluded that SP is a common clinical condition managed in the physiotherapy department of this tertiary health institution, accounting for about 60% of new patients seen and managed at the orthopaedic unit.
It is more common in females than males. Lumbar spondylosis was the most frequently reported diagnosis. Utilization of outcome measures and the discharge pattern of these patients by physiotherapists who managed
the patients were poor. This study revealed the need for improvement in clinical documentation of cases, usage of standardized outcome  assessment and the need for improvement in the clinical reasoning skills of physiotherapists.

KEYWORDS: spinal pain, physiotherapy department, university college hospital, orthopaedic unit, intervention