Margit Kooijman

62 but thought of purchasing it and 59% had specific reasons for not offering MSU. These included high costs and no reimbursement; not suitable for the practice’ patient population; doubts on the scientific evidence or benefit for daily practice; MSU does not fit in the professional profile of the physiotherapist; no need because of co-operation with another MSU practice or resistance of GPs (open-ended question: ‘Is/are there specific reason(s) for not offering MSU in your practice (yet)?’). MSU physiotherapists Respondents In total, 69 MSU physiotherapists reacted on our request to fill out a questionnaire on the use of MSU. Table 3 presents the characteristics of participating physiotherapists. On the question how reimbursement was arranged, 63% of the respondents indicated MSU was claimed as a regular physiotherapy treatment, 37% did not claim (additional) costs at all because they considered it part of treatment and nine respondents did not answer the question. Almost all MSU physiotherapists agreed that treatment has become more efficient because of MSU and 76% thinks it has reduced costs. On the open-ended question: ‘for which part of the body do you use MSU most frequently?’ 71% of the MSU physiotherapists indicated they focused on patients with shoulder problems, another 20% focused on shoulder and lower extremity. Almost 62% of the MSU physiotherapists thought that patients specifically chose to visit their practice because of the possibility of MSU treatment and 80% agreed with the proposition that patients were more satisfied because of it. TABLE 3. Characteristics of MSU physiotherapists (n = 69) (%) Gender (male) 84.1 Age, mean (sd) 45.3 (11.4) Experience as physiotherapist, mean years (sd) 21.7 (11.0) Specialty: Pelvic 1.5 Geriatrics 0.0 Pediatrics 0.0 Manual 50.0 Orofascial 1.5 Psychosomatic 0.0 Sports 16.2 Edema 4.4 Occupational 7.4 Year MSU education completed: <= 2006 20.0 2007-2010 33.9 >=2011 46.1 Masterclass on shoulder disorders (yes) 53.5 Experience with MSU, mean years (sd) 4.4 (3.2)