(Source: PT in Motion)
A study from Sweden has found that, at least for 1 hospital in that country, multidisciplinary health care teams are more likely to refer men with chronic pain for physical therapy than they are women. Getting at the reasons for the apparent gender bias, however, isn’t easy without more research.
In a paper e-published ahead of print in the January 12 Journal of Rehabilitative Medicine, authors share the results of a study of 851 patients—589 women and 262 men aged 18-65—who were referred to a pain rehabilitation clinic at a hospital in Sweden over a 3-year period. Once referred, patients were assessed by a multidisciplinary team consisting of a specialist physician in rehabilitative medicine, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a social worker, and a psychologist. The team then recommended 1 or more interventions. For their study, researchers only tracked patients who were referred by the team for an intervention from a single profession.
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