Overweight and obesity management in musculo-skeletal primary care: a survey of Australian health practitioners exploring ‘the elephant in the room’
John Stevens A , Paul Orrock A * , Brent Verco B and Garry Egger A CA Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia.
B Australian Musculo-Skeletal Network (AMSN), Mullumbimby, NSW 2482, Australia.
C Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM), Northcote, Vic. 3070, Australia.
Australian Journal of Primary Health 28(6) 573-579 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY22024
Submitted: 11 February 2022 Accepted: 19 July 2022 Published: 30 August 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of La Trobe University. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Background: Overweight and obesity has a bi-directional association with the growing burden of musculoskeletal (MSk) dysfunction and pain. It seems inevitable that MSk practitioners will see increasing numbers of patients who are overweight and or obese and require this to be addressed as part of their management. Little evidence exists to describe the engagement of patients and their MSk practitioner in weight management as an adjunct or direct component of their intervention or therapy.
Methods: A self-administered electronic survey was constructed with 13 items to collect self-reported data from Australian practitioners who have a focus on MSk management. The target group was from a multidisciplinary MSk network of 350 members.
Results: A total of 204 completed surveys were analysed from respondents working in one of seven MSk- related professions. It was found that 70% of patients/clients seen by respondents were overweight or obese and that <18% of these patients had weight management included as part of their treatment.
Conclusions: Sixty percent of the respondents in this survey indicated that they do not include weight management as part of their practice despite 70% of their patients/clients being overweight and or obese. With the exception of Medical Practitioners and Exercise Physiologists, in this survey, the other therapists including Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists, indicated that they lacked confidence, knowledge and methods to engage a systematic approach to weight management with their patients/clients.
Keywords: Australian practitioners, electronic survey, musculoskeletal management, obesity, overweight, pain management, primary care, weight control.
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