Objetive: To know the prevalence of acupuncturists within physical and rehabilitation medicine specialists in Europe and their characteristics, as well as to analyze the pathologies treated and therapeutic techniques used.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study based on a structured and closed questionnaire. The study was carried out from October 2011 to May 2014.
Results: A total of 115 specialists from 19 countries completed the questionnaire. The mean characteristics of the physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM) specialists who are also acupuncturists in Europe were: women (62.6 %); mean age of 47.91 years old; 4.20 years of physical and rehabilitation medicine school and 2.00 years of acupuncture training; 15.03 years of mean time of clinical practice as physical and rehabilitation medicine specialists and 10.42 years of experience as acupuncturists; 35.65 % had a doctorate (PhD) degree, obtained at a mean age of 33.55 years old; working in a public hospital (80%); treating mainly neurological conditions (48.1% ) and using mainly techniques such as kinesiotherapy (11.81%), orthosis (10.40%) and electrotherapy (9.92%). Acupuncture was applied by 32.2% of the participants mainly in musculoskeletal conditions (27.38%). A mean number of more than 20 patients a day were treated by 47.04% of the specialists, being 41.8% of the patients (adults and children). Significant differences were found between the variables, acupuncture and gender (Pearson's correlation Index = 0.007). However, no differences were observed in relation to acupuncture and age, doctorate degree, years of clinical practice and workplace (all with P values > 0.05).
Conclusion: In the European area, physical and rehabilitation medicine specialists who are also acupuncturists are mainly female, middle-aged, with 15 years of professional experience, PhD holders, working in public hospitals, treating mainly neurological conditions with kinesiotherapy and acupuncture, and treating over 20 patients a day (adults and children) during a 7 h shift. Further epidemiological studies on PRM to provide more information regarding the real situation of this medical specialty and the possibility to open to Chinese traditional medicine techniques such as acupuncture are necessary.