Development and assessment of an educational video on spinal manual therapy: impact on perceived skills and its use as a teaching resource for Nigerian physiotherapy students

Abstract Background Teaching physiotherapy involves practical demonstrations; however, limited contact sessions impede learning. E-learning has great prospects when used as a pedagogical tool. Objective This study aimed to develop an instructional video on spinal manual therapy, test its feasibility for pedagogy, and evaluate its effect on perceived skills acquisition among physiotherapy students. Methodology The development of the instructional video was done iteratively. The research design was experimental. Study participants in the experimental group ( n = 20), who had taken no classes in manual therapy, received the instructional video for 2 weeks, while members of the control group ( n = 20) who had taken classes did not. A practical knowledge test on spinal and manual therapy was conducted before and after intervention. Results The average age of the participants was 22.8 ± 1.60 years. The video’s mean acceptability and usability scores were 32.40 ± 4.02 (out of 36) and 79.25 ± 14.52 (out of 100). There were significant differences in the median scores pre-and post-intervention for the experimental (28.0 vs 21.0, p = 0.001) and the control (21.5 vs. 21.0, p = 0.048) groups. There was also a significant difference ( p = 0.001) in the post-test median scores between the experimental (29.5) and the control (11.5) groups. Conclusion The instructional video on spinal manual techniques has high usability and acceptability among physiotherapy students. The video podcast significantly increased perceived skills in spinal manual therapy and could help learn and refresh practical skills.