Avaliação do conhecimento sobre fotobiomodulação dos fisioterapeutas no Brasil

Abstract

Physiotherapy is the profession that assesses, rehabilitates, prevents, recovers, as well as restores, develops, and conserves the individual's capacity through physical resources such as ultrasound, heat and light. Electrophysical resources are described and recommended in undergraduate courses and among these we find the use of low power lasers. Brazil is one of the countries with the most publications in the world in the area known as Photobiomodulation (PBM), however, it is not clear the access that physiotherapy clinicians have to the advances obtained in scientific research. The purpose of this study is to verify, through an electronic form, the knowledge of physical therapists enrolled in class councils about PBM in daily practice. An electronic questionnaire Google Form was developed, and it was sent by email, WhatsApp social networks, SMS, and printed forms were also distributed. The distribution started in the region of Goiás and the Federal District with the support of CREFITO 11 and then expanded to other regions. In total 106 physiotherapists answered the questionnaire. Of these 50% used lasers in the clinic, while 10.4% had never used lasers. After obtaining the data and according to the responses obtained, we observed 50% that physiotherapy professionals. 81.4% said they did not use it because they did not have the equipment and 10.2% indicated the cost as a reason for not using it. Among the participants, 62.3% said they had not made any updates in the area in the last 3 years and of those who said they had updated the courses up to 1 hour in duration were the majority. 76.5% also never calibrated their equipment and 45.7% said they used the protocols they learned at graduation. Based on the results, we conclude that there is a need for greater dissemination of the scientific knowledge obtained in the field of PBM in physical therapy so that the advances are effectively passed on to professionals who work clinically in the area.