Surveying Therapists on Seating Approaches for Patients with Muscular Dystrophy in Japan

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K18895
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 58010:Medical management and medical sociology-related
• Research Institution: Nihon Fukushi University
• Principal Investigator: FUJITA Hitomi 日本福祉大学, 健康科学部, 講師 (50610010)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 筋ジストロフィー / シーティング / リハビリテーション工学 / 電動移動機器

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Patients with muscular dystrophy (MD) need fitted wheelchairs. This study aimed to ascertain physiotherapists and occupational therapists’ opinions about the current wheelchair seating process for patients with MD in Japan. We identified 266 academic papers published between August 2014 and July 2019 with the keywords “muscular dystrophy” and either “physiotherapy” or “occupational therapy.”We then sent survey requests to 140 physiotherapists and occupational
therapists (who were among the authors of the aforementioned papers), of whom 41 agreed to partake in this study. We found that the time required for each seating was 30～60 min for three types of MD, and the most commonly reported time to trial fitting was 1-3 months. In addition, health insurance reimbursements for seating were considered part of disease-specific rehabilitation in most cases, and most therapists were more or less satisfied with the current seating procedure. families.

Free Research Field

リハビリテーション工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

筋ジスのシーティングに関わるセラピストは，長期に及ぶ関わりを経て技術を獲得しながら様々な課題と直面し，その解決に向けた糸口を探求している．この課題はシーティングの実装戦略の確立に向けた突破口ととらえ，情報のエビデンス化を図る必要が明確になった．加えて，早期に電動車いすを導入する意義について症例報告から明らかにされた．電動移動機器も包含される車いすは，国内では福祉機器の一種としての認識だが諸外国では医療機器としての位置づけをもつ．これに対し2017年にはシーティングが医療行為であることが明文化され，単なる移動手段としての道具から治療的役割を果たす機器の一種というパラダイムシフトをもたらしている．