Role Research in The Development of Physiotherapy Practice Essay

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Role Research in The Development of Physiotherapy Practice
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Role Research in The Development of Physiotherapy Practice
Physiotherapy, sometimes called physical therapy, refers to a medical profession that treats acute and chronic pain, physical impairments, or movements due to trauma, illness, and injuries using exercise prescription, health education, or physical agents. It improves the physical functioning of the patient through prognosis, diagnosis, or physical examination and intervention by a person called a physiotherapist (Veras et al., 2016). Besides the clinical practice, the physiotherapy profession entails research, education, administration, and consultation provided as a primary care service alongside other medical services. Like in any other field, clinical research is very important because it helps the physiotherapists to supplement their knowledge. The physiotherapists have employed the evidence-based therapy practice as a basis for their treatment services. The evidence-based therapy practice involves a scientific study, clinical reasoning, and an individual’s goals and needs. Therefore, physiotherapy is very crucial in saving the lives of many people and making them live a good quality of life. However, without research, physiotherapy would not make any professional progress. This study analyses and discusses the role of research in the development of physiotherapy practice. It describes the progress of research in physiotherapy, the process of disseminating and implementing the research knowledge, the research design and the methodology used, the significance of clinical research, and the role of institutions of higher learning in supporting the clinical and academic research related to physiotherapy.
Research refers to the scientific search for knowledge. Therefore, research generates fresh knowledge that can be put into practice (Bjorbækmo & Mengshoel 2016). They depend on scientific methods that require education, training, and skills to achieve the research objectives. These scientific methods have been in use for a long in physiotherapy medication.
Early evidence of research in the physiotherapy profession dates back to the 20th century where the first publication appeared while in 1929, the first-ever scientific randomized control trial (RCT) was reported. This is a vivid indication of the role of research in physiotherapy. Physiotherapy research has grown steadily since the 20th century. This research in turn has led to increased development and access to a base of scientific knowledge that informs physiotherapists on different issues, thus boosting professional competence. Nicholls et al. (2016) note that the most important of the research designs and analysis is the meta-analyses. It is an evidence-based analysis method that uses a systematic method to evaluate and summarize the effects of treatment across several medical studies.
Technology has played an important role in the research too as electronic retrieval of information makes work easier for the physiotherapists to access electronically stored information. This is especially so during research t...