Abstract
Background: Whilst half of all Australian chiropractors report often treating athletes, there is insufficient evidence to characterise the sports chiropractor in Australia.
Objective: To perform a workforce survey of Sports Chiropractic Australia (SCA) members.
Methods: A 74-item web-based questionnaire collected information about practitioner and practice characteristics. Descriptive statistics summarised practitioner and patient characteristics, caseload and management approaches.
Results: SCA members were predominantly male (74%) with 11.3 (±8.4) years of clinical experience. Amateur or semi-professional sportspeople comprised 67% of SCA members' caseload. Athletes were most likely to present with a lower limb musculoskeletal condition (44%), followed by low back pain (34%). Nearly half (43%) of musculoskeletal conditions were co-managed with another healthcare practitioner.
Conclusions: SCA members provided care for people of all sporting abilities, ranging from recreational to elite athletes, but most typically at the non-elite level. SCA members almost exclusively treat musculoskeletal conditions and apply various modalities in the management of athletes and sportspeople.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 193-200 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2020 |
Keywords
- chiropractic
- chiropratique
- cross-sectional survey
- enquête
- enquête transversale
- exercice physique
- exercise
- médecine sportive
- sports chiropractic
- Sports Chiropractic Australia
- sports medicine
- survey