Aim: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides a useful framework for the comprehensive description of the patients' functional health. The aim of this study was to identify the ICF categories that represent the patients' problems treated by manual medicine practitioners in order to facilitate its application in manual medicine. This selection of ICF categories could be used for assessment, treatment documentation and quality management in manual medicine practice.
Methods: Swiss manual medicine experts were asked about the patients' problems commonly treated by manual medicine practitioners in a three-round survey using the Delphi technique. Responses were linked to the ICF.
Results: Forty-eight manual medicine experts gave a total of 808 responses that were linked to 225 different ICF categories; 106 ICF categories which reached an agreement of at least 50% among the participants in the final Delphi-round were included in the set of ICF Intervention Categories for Manual Medicine; 42 (40%) of the categories are assigned to the ICF component body functions, 36 (34%) represent the ICF component body structures and 28 (26%) the ICF component activities and participation.
Conclusion: A first proposal of ICF Intervention Categories for Manual Medicine was defined and needs to be validated in further studies.