Assessing the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among physical therapy faculty

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has increased over the past decade in the United States. Traditional health care professionals are responding by integrating content on CAM into curricula and practice. However, limited scholarly information is available regarding CAM knowledge, education and practice in the physical therapy profession. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive study was to assess physical therapists' readiness to respond to the growing consumer interest and use of CAM and to examine the extent of CAM education in entry-level physical therapy programs in the United States. A survey was mailed to officials of all 198 entry-level physical therapy programs. The findings from this survey showed that physical therapy academic faculty members had slightly positive attitudes and views on effectiveness regarding CAM. Further results indicate that physical therapy academic chairpersons are familiar with all 17 CAM modalities listed. While the majority of the 80 responding schools' participants (91.25%) reported including CAM content in their curriculum, the content focused primarily in the area of manual/body based methods, followed by mind-body based methods. Findings from this study suggest that the physical therapy profession may not be prepared to discuss CAM with patients under all five NCCAM domains.