Sammanfattning
Aim: To examine demographic variables, use of health services, expectation of physiotherapy
efficiency, pain characteristics of patients in a physiotherapy out-patient practice in Norway, and to
examine whether regular users of physiotherapy differ from non-regular users.
Method: This study is a quantitative cross-sectional survey. All patients aged between 18 to 70
years visiting a physiotherapy out-patient practice in Oslo during a week in January 2010 were asked
to participate.
Results: Five-hundred and seven patients with a mean age of 46.4 years participated. Seventy
percent were women, 72% had college or university education, 78% were employed and 74% had a
pain duration of more than six months. Fifty-three percent were examined by x-rays and 56% with
magnetic resonance imagining. Thirty-six percent were regular users of physiotherapy and of those
68% were employed. The regular users more frequently were examined by radiology (p < 0.001), their
pain had more often lasted for more than one year (p < 0.001) compared to patients who did not go
regularly to physiotherapy. Among the regular users, 30 % of the patients expected to become well
again compared to 63% of the non-regulars.
Conclusion: Most patients at this out-patient physiotherapy practice were employed, suffered from
long-lasting musculoskeletal pain, and often expected to become well again. They were high
consumers of other health services. About one third of the patients were regular users of
physiotherapy, and this group scored worse than the non-regular users on pain variables, utilized
more frequently other health services and had lower expectations to the effect of physical therapy.