Abstract
Currently research about the knowledge that professional rugby players have about the chiropractic profession is lacking. Professional athletes are exposed to different types of injuries and treatments that are performed by different medical professionals. The research was performed to see if professional rugby players use chiropractic care as a treatment regime. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine what extent of knowledge professional rugby players’ have about the Chiropractic profession and the secondary aim focused on determining whether professional rugby players utilize chiropractic care as part of their treatment regime. Method: This was a cross-sectional, explorative, quantitative study done on 101 professional rugby players in South Africa with the use of an online survey. The online platform used was Google forms. The professional rugby players had to comply with the inclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria stated that the players had to be between the ages of 18 and 45 and they had to be contracted by the rugby unions, thus earning a monthly income. The survey was emailed to the different rugby unions and permission was obtained from the unions to distribute the survey to their respective contracted rugby players. Results: The study obtained 101 responses from professional rugby players. The majority of the rugby players (54.5%) have little knowledge about the chiropractic profession. More than half of the participants (51.5%) have never visited a chiropractor before. 65.35% of the participants have never had chiropractic personnel as part of their medical team. 65.3% of the participants have never been referred to chiropractors. The majority of the participants (74.3%) stated that there could be usage for chiropractors in the rugby medical teams. 94.1% of the participants knew that chiropractors are able to treat neck and back conditions and 60.4% knew that chiropractors do joint manipulation during their treatment sessions. Conclusion: There is still potential for growth among sports chiropractors working with professional athletes in South Africa as the study has indicated that the majority of the participants declared that they have little knowledge about the profession and have never received treatment from a chiropractor in the past. However the majority of the participants believed that there could be utilization of chiropractic care in the professional rugby setup which is a hopeful prospect to the chiropractic profession. The majority of the professional rugby players thus do not have enough knowledge about the benefits that chiropractic treatment has to offer and thus they do not utilize chiropractic care as part of their treatment regime.
M.Tech. (Chiropractic)