title: [Manual medicine in Germany. A descriptive analysis].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Germany manual medicine (MM) is widely used by physicians. The purpose of this study was to give a first description of relevant health service research aspects of MM.
  
  
  METHODS
  A structured questionnaire was placed online between April 2009 and March 2010 after pilot testing. Cooperating MM schools invited their members to take part in the study through different media.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 60 female and 241 male physicians participated in this survey. The most common indication for MM is the ileosacral joint syndrome, 73% stated that from their experience a single therapy does change symptoms and 47% stated that there are average to severe unspecific effects involved in MM therapy. Factors most influencing current MM treatment are time pressure and own wellbeing. There were no differences between the schools or specialties with respect to experienced effects of MM and frequency of therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future study research can be planned to cover all schools of MM.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung Allgemeinmedizin und Versorgungsforschung, Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Voßstr. 2, 69115, Heidelberg, Deutschland. jost.steinhaeuser@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steinhäuser
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oser
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Götz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joos
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D026201:Musculoskeletal Manipulations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires