Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs about Chronic Low Back Pain among Final Year Physical Therapy Students in Universities of Islamabad

Background: Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and is associated with a significant reduction in quality of life. Reports have shown that the global burden due to low back pain has increased by 54%, primarily due to aging and population growth. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about chronic low back pain among final year physical therapy students. Methodology: The cross-sectional study was conducted from March to July 2023 in universities of Islamabad including final year physical therapy students. After approval from the ethical review committee of university IIUI-FAHS/DPT/1020-1307. The sample was calculated using non-probability convenience sampling techniques from final year physiotherapy students of private sector , both genders participated in the study. The Health Care Providers' Pain and Impairment Relationship Scale was used to quantify beliefs and attitude of healthcare providers towards chronic low back pain patients while the Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire measures how an individual understands the mechanism that pain. Cross-tabulation and independent t-test were used for comparison. Pearson correlation coefficient test was used to find out the relationship between HCPAIRS and NPQ. Results: Out of 277 participants, 67 (24.2%) were male and 210 (75.8%) were female with mean age 23.38±0.6. There was a weak positive correlation between NPQ and HCPAIRS (r=0.227, p=.0001) which showed the students with higher pain neurophysiology knowledge held stronger beliefs that pain justifies activity limitation and impairment. Conclusion: The study concluded that final-year physical therapy students have a good understanding of pain neurophysiology. HC-PAIRS higher score indicates a moderately strong belief of students that pain is closely linked to disability and limitation. Additionally, a weak positive significant association was found between NPQ and HC-PAIRS.