A survey on the profile and practices of physiotherapists treating patients with all types of spinal muscular atrophy was conducted within the SMArtCARE network, which comprises 83 German-speaking reference centres in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland:
- two online questionnaires were developed, one by a panel of expert physiotherapists using the Delphi approach, and the other concerning eight clinical vignettes,
- 148 physiotherapists responded online (28% of the sample surveyed),
- although practices varied slightly, there was a strong consensus, for example, in favour of offering a certain degree of strengthening in less severe forms of SMA.
This attempt at an inventory highlights the importance of developing practical recommendations for this fundamental aspect of patient care.
