Attitudes of occupational health practitioners regarding communication with manual therapists

David Black                                                            Supervisor: Heath Williams 

Abstract:

Aims/Objectives: 
To investigate the attitudes of Occupational Health Practitioners (OHPs) towards referring workers with low back pain to manual therapists — osteopaths, physiotherapists and chiropractors. Specifically: 

o to determine the reasons why workers with low back pain are referred to particular therapists 
o to determine whether established clinical guidelines regarding choice of therapist are followed during this referral process. 
• To examine how the attitudes of OHPs towards manual therapists affect their expectations of inter-professional communication. 

Methods: 
Questionnaire-based, using a self-administered questionnaire that was sent to a random selection of OHPs practicing in the north east of England.