Evaluation of awareness about physiotherapy and identification of the most vulnerable region to Injury among school level male Hockey players in Kandy educational zone

Physiotherapy is a therapeutic health profession that assists people with injuries. pain. stiffness. weakness. and other movement problems. Physiotherapists are hospital based trained personnel and are experts in diagnosis. treatment and prevention of injuries, exercise prescription, rehabilitation and many other areas of sport concerning musculoskeletal health and fitness. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 69 school level male hockey players in Kandy educational zone to evaluate their awareness on physiotherapy. Eight schools were taken into the study and one school was selected for the pre-test prior to the survey. The study was carried out as a whole population study. Ethical clearance was taken from the ethical clearance committee of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences. Written consent was taken individually from the participants. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of 50 questions was administered to all male hockey players under19 age group who have participated in hockey tournaments for the last 12 months. A screening examination was done to identify the most vulnerable region to injury. The data was analysed by using Minitab computer software. According to the responses obtained from self-administered questionnaire, 2.89% had inadequate awareness, 81.15% had moderate awareness and only 15.94% had an adequate awareness about physiotherapy. The screening examination revealed the knee joint (19.29%) followed by the ankle joint (15.78%). According to literature, ankle injuries were the commonest among hockey players. We assume that the playing surfaces and practice techniques may have an impact on this result among Sri Lankan hockey players.