Exercise Prescription in the London School of Osteopathy Clinic – Considerations of Patient Compliance
Caroline Hobson                                                                                                    Supervisor: Mary Penn

Abstract

This study investigates the reasons for patient compliance to exercises prescribed by senior students at the London School of Osteopathy (LSO) clinic as part of the treatment regime. Considerations are made of the frequency of compliance related to: perceived difficulty; age; gender; and present and past frequency and levels of daily physical activity. Secondarily, considerations are made between the frequency of compliance and: the method of prescription employed by the student; the reasons for non compliance; and the patients reasons for undertaking physical activity.  The study population comprised 72 adults (41 male and 31 female) aged between 21 and 83 (mean age = 49). Each subject completed a questionnaire, and the resultant data was collated and analysed in Microsoft Excel; statistical analyses were conducted using Graphpad Instat. 

Results show that 82% of patients fully complied; 17% partially complied and 1% were non compliant. Of the fully compliant patients 40% perceived the exercises to be easy, 53% perceived them to be moderate and 7% perceived them to be hard. 70% of subjects reported doing the exercises at least once per day. Results also show that absolute and frequency of compliance is not related to: perceived difficulty; age; gender; or levels/frequency of daily physical activity. It was found that 30% of exercise recommendations do not include information on the number and frequency of repetitions that the patient should undertake. However, neither the method nor depth of prescription has any influence on compliance. Differences between gender were observed in the reasons why patients undertake/have undertaken physical activity in the past and/or present. Females reported that they did physical activity primarily to “feel good about themselves” whilst men reported primarily that it was to “improve strength”. This has implications for the prescriptive goals and efficacy of prescription type of exercise for each gender.