| dc.description.abstract | BACKGROUND: Therapeutic ultrasound is a modality that is commonly used in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries by healthcare professionals throughout the world for both its thermal and non-thermal effects. PURPOSE: This study used an in-person or virtual asynchronous educational intervention to educate and demonstrate best practice techniques to practicing athletic trainers while surveying their usage, perception, confidence, and knowledge regarding the modality. METHODS: Thirty-one athletic trainers completed the educational intervention, including 13 who participated in the in-person session and 18 in the virtual asynchronous session. Qualtrics based surveys occurred immediately before and after each educational intervention and four weeks following the completion of the intervention. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics were performed including means, standard deviation, and frequencies. Repeated measures ANOVA testing was used to compare the pre-educational intervention survey, post-intervention survey and the third follow-up educational intervention survey. A statically significant increase in overall mean US knowledge scores was observed from the pre-educational intervention survey to the post-educational intervention survey. Results from the ANOVA were F(2, 74) = 11.49, p < 0.0001. The Tukey-Kramer post hoc test revealed significant differences between the pre-educational session and the post-educational session. There was no significance when examining thermal and non-thermal ultrasound usage and perception amongst clinicians using a p-value of ≤ 0.05. CONCLUSION: The educational intervention was effective in increasing thermal and non-thermal ultrasound knowledge, perception, and usage. A feasibility component to this study exists to determine if these educational formats are a viable option for increasing ultrasound knowledge, perception, and usage among athletic trainers in the future. | en_US |
