United States Physical Therapists' Knowledge About Joint Hypermobility Syndrome Compared with Fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

BACKGROUND

Joint hypermobility syndrome (JHS) is one of the most common inherited connective tissue disorders. It causes significant pain and disability for all age groups, ranging from developmental delay among children to widespread chronic pain in adults. Experts in JHS assert that the condition is under-recognized and poorly managed.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to assess US physical therapists' knowledge about JHS compared with other causes of widespread pain and activity limitations: fibromyalgia, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and adult rheumatoid arthritis.

METHODS

Cross-sectional, Internet-based survey of randomly selected members of the American Physical Therapy Association and descriptive statistics were used to explore physical therapists' knowledge about JHS, fibromyalgia, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and adult rheumatoid arthritis, and chi square was used to compare knowledge about the different conditions.

RESULTS

The response rate was 15.5% (496). Although 36% recognized the Beighton Scale for assessing joint hypermobility, only 26.8% of respondents were familiar with the Brighton Criteria for diagnosing JHS. Few respondents (11-19%) realized that JHS has extra-articular features such as anxiety disorder, fatigue, headache, delayed motor development, easy bruising and sleep disturbance. Physical therapists working in environments most likely to see patients with JHS underestimated the likely prevalence in their patient population.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that many physical therapists in the United States are not familiar with the diagnostic criteria, prevalence or common clinical presentation of JHS.