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The role of physiotherapy in sports medicine : perceptions of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokinetics and physiotherapists

A survey was undertaken to assess the perception of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokineticists and physiotherapists of the role of physiotherapists in sports medicine. Orthopaedic surgeons (n=24), sports physicians (n=171 ), biokineticists (n=39) and physiotherapists (n=226) who were m...

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Main Author: Sole, Gisela
Other Authors: Dr Lambert, Mike, Prof.Juritz, June
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: Division of Physiotherapy 2026
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access_status_str Open Access
author Sole, Gisela
author2 Dr Lambert, Mike, Prof.Juritz, June
author_browse Dr Lambert, Mike, Prof.Juritz, June
Sole, Gisela
author_facet Dr Lambert, Mike, Prof.Juritz, June
Sole, Gisela
author_sort Sole, Gisela
collection Thesis
description A survey was undertaken to assess the perception of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokineticists and physiotherapists of the role of physiotherapists in sports medicine. Orthopaedic surgeons (n=24), sports physicians (n=171 ), biokineticists (n=39) and physiotherapists (n=226) who were members of the South African Sports Medicine Association in 1995 were included in the study population. The questionnaire consisted of 36 tasks, which were divided into eight sections. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of the tasks for physiotherapists and the competence at which these tasks were performed by physiotherapists on a six-point Likert scale. Means, medians and standard deviations were calculated for the importance and the competence of each task as perceived by each professional group. The response rate was 54. 7% (n=252). All tasks were perceived to be "important" by physiotherapists (n=146) (median>3). The section on "injury prevention and epidemiology" generally received lower ratings of competence by the physiotherapists than the other sections. The orthopaedic surgeons (n=12), sports physicians (n=68) and biokineticists (n=22) generally perceived the importance of the tasks and the competence at which they were performed by physiotherapists lower than the physiotherapists (p<0.05 with the Kruskall-Wallis test). The differences in perception were greatest in tasks which overlapped with the scope of practice of the specific professional groups (p<0.017 with the Mann Whitney-U test). Kendall tau correlations and canonical correlations between importance of the tasks for physiotherapists and competence at which these were performed· by physiotherapists were low. The areas of "emergency care", "rehabilitation", "injury prevention" and "research" need to receive more attention in the training of sports physiotherapists.
format Thesis
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language English
eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:35.428Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher Division of Physiotherapy
publisherStr Division of Physiotherapy
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43289 The role of physiotherapy in sports medicine : perceptions of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokinetics and physiotherapists Sole, Gisela Dr Lambert, Mike, Prof.Juritz, June Sports Medicine, Physiotherapy, Professional Issues, Tasks, Competence A survey was undertaken to assess the perception of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokineticists and physiotherapists of the role of physiotherapists in sports medicine. Orthopaedic surgeons (n=24), sports physicians (n=171 ), biokineticists (n=39) and physiotherapists (n=226) who were members of the South African Sports Medicine Association in 1995 were included in the study population. The questionnaire consisted of 36 tasks, which were divided into eight sections. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of the tasks for physiotherapists and the competence at which these tasks were performed by physiotherapists on a six-point Likert scale. Means, medians and standard deviations were calculated for the importance and the competence of each task as perceived by each professional group. The response rate was 54. 7% (n=252). All tasks were perceived to be "important" by physiotherapists (n=146) (median>3). The section on "injury prevention and epidemiology" generally received lower ratings of competence by the physiotherapists than the other sections. The orthopaedic surgeons (n=12), sports physicians (n=68) and biokineticists (n=22) generally perceived the importance of the tasks and the competence at which they were performed by physiotherapists lower than the physiotherapists (p<0.05 with the Kruskall-Wallis test). The differences in perception were greatest in tasks which overlapped with the scope of practice of the specific professional groups (p<0.017 with the Mann Whitney-U test). Kendall tau correlations and canonical correlations between importance of the tasks for physiotherapists and competence at which these were performed· by physiotherapists were low. The areas of "emergency care", "rehabilitation", "injury prevention" and "research" need to receive more attention in the training of sports physiotherapists. 2026-05-27T14:15:36Z 2026-05-27T14:15:36Z 1997 2026-05-27T13:09:03Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43289 en eng application/pdf Division of Physiotherapy Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Sports Medicine, Physiotherapy, Professional Issues, Tasks, Competence
Sole, Gisela
The role of physiotherapy in sports medicine : perceptions of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokinetics and physiotherapists
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The role of physiotherapy in sports medicine : perceptions of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokinetics and physiotherapists
title_full The role of physiotherapy in sports medicine : perceptions of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokinetics and physiotherapists
title_fullStr The role of physiotherapy in sports medicine : perceptions of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokinetics and physiotherapists
title_full_unstemmed The role of physiotherapy in sports medicine : perceptions of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokinetics and physiotherapists
title_short The role of physiotherapy in sports medicine : perceptions of orthopaedic surgeons, sports physicians, biokinetics and physiotherapists
title_sort role of physiotherapy in sports medicine perceptions of orthopaedic surgeons sports physicians biokinetics and physiotherapists
topic Sports Medicine, Physiotherapy, Professional Issues, Tasks, Competence
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43289
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