Access to physical therapy services and their use by elderly persons with low back pain

Abstract

Introduction: The aging of the Brazilian population brings challenges and demands for rehabilitation services. Objective: To evaluate the access of the elderly with low back pain to outpatient physical therapy services as well as their use of and satisfaction with these services. Methods: A longitudinal study was performed with a number of elderly persons who were divided into three groups and evaluated through in-person and telephone interviews (follow-up 1 after six weeks and follow-up 2 after three months). Results: Out of the 76 participants, 85.5% were not users of the service; 61.8% were referred by a doctor. After three months, the main reasons for not doing physiotherapy were: waiting queue (34%), resting (30.2%) and use of analgesics (50%). Among those who had access, satisfaction was rated good to excellent. The Anova showed no significant difference between the three groups in relation to the analyzed variables. Conclusion: There was a high level of difficulty in getting access to physical therapy because of the waiting queue.