Satisfaction of patients with lumbar spine pain receiving physiotherapy treatment within health insurance reimbursement in Poland and in France

Introduction
Low-back pain syndromes are a common problem. The authors estimate that this ailment is experienced by more than 80% of populations in developed countries. The treatment of spine pain syndromes is an interdisciplinary issue. Therefore, a proper therapy must be multifactorial and take into consideration all aspects of a patient’s life. The aim of this work was to compare subjective evaluation of the process of rehabilitation of patients suffering from ailments related to lumbar spine pain who received physiotherapy within the health insurance reimbursement in Poland and in France.

Material and methods
The study included 100 patients who underwent physiotherapy due to lumbosacral spine pain complaints. The study group consisted of 50 participants who received physiotherapy in Poland and 50 subjects who underwent it in France. The authors’ own questionnaire was employed in the study. It was prepared in two language versions, i.e. Polish and French. The questionnaire consisted of 34 questions on demography, pain complaints, the process of physiotherapy and the evaluation of pain on the VAS scale, before and after physiotherapy

Results
The assessment of the promptness of the employed treatments was statistically higher in the case of the patients in France (p=0.039). The general assessment of the physiotherapy process by the examined patients in Poland and in France was similar. No statistically significant differences were revealed in this respect (p=0.240). The process of the therapy was most often regarded as very good (66%).

Conclusions
The patients with chronic lumbar spine pain undergoing therapy in France evaluated it higher than the patients in Poland. The effectiveness of physiotherapy in both countries did not vary considerably. France respects the rules of early intervention and extensiveness of physiotherapy to a larger degree than Poland.