Awareness and attitudes towards osteopathy: A comparison between English and French non-professional runners.

Item

Title
Awareness and attitudes towards osteopathy: A comparison between English and French non-professional runners.
Author(s)
Darmon, P
Abstract
The objective of the present study is to compare the awareness of osteopathy and the attitudes towards it between non-professional runners in the UK and France. METHODOLOGY A survey was conducted in the UK and in France where participants of a IOK race completed a questionnaire designed by the author. Therefore, 173 responses (85 from UK and 88 from France) were analysed. The Chi2 and Fisher's exact tests were used to compare the data, in order to find differences between the English and French runners. RESULTS The inferential analysis showed no statistically significant differences in characteristics between the sampled runners of the two countries: no difference in repartition of gender (p=0.513), age (p=0.57), number of running session per week (p=0.697), distance (p=O.895) and time (p-0.054) per running session, length of time participants had been running (p=0.147) and rationale for running (p=0.319). Therefore, both groups are similar. Nevertheless, awareness of osteopathy and attitudes towards it might differ from one country to the other. The inferential analysis showed several statistically significant differences in awareness of osteopathy, as well as attitudes towards it, between the sampled runners of the UK and France. The runners in France were more aware of osteopathy (p=0.00ll) and have consulted an osteopath more: generally between the UK and France (p= 0.00595) but also depending on gender, women more than men (p-`0.0l). The runners were recommended osteopathy from different social networks (p= 0.00595). Runners in the UK were mainly advised to consult an osteopath by their GPs (37%), whilst the majority of runners in France were advised by their friends (53%). Even if one cannot state which type of treatment is more effective, runners in the UK thought they had better benefits from osteopathy rather than with any other health care profession (p=0.027). Generally, the sampled runners of both countries were satisfied of their osteopathic treatments (93% in the UK and 84% in France) and would recommend osteopathy and/or their osteopath (97% in the UK and 96% in France). CONCLUSION There is no denying that the comparison between runners in the UK and France showed differences in awareness of osteopathy and attitudes towards it.
presented at
European School of Osteopathy
Date Accepted
2012
Date Submitted
22.1.2013 16:23:35
Type
osteo_thesis
Language
English
Submitted by:
62
Pub-Identifier
15214
Inst-Identifier
1229
Keywords
Awareness of osteopathy, France / England, Non-professional runner.
Recommended
0
Item sets
Thesis

Darmon, P, “Awareness and attitudes towards osteopathy: A comparison between English and French non-professional runners.”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 2, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.com/s/orw/item/851