Background: Axial Spondyloarthritis (AxSpa) is a chronic inflammatory disease primarily affecting the spine. Guidelines for the management of AxSpa recommend pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. As education and exercise therapy are the main non pharmacological treatments recommended for AxSpa, physiotherapists play an important role in its management. As part of the multidisciplinary team physiotherapists also play a key role in monitoring this disease, in particular tracking spinal flexibility and using patient reported outcomes to monitor function, pain and quality of life. Research in the United Kingdom has highlighted the value that people living with AxSpa place on having access to expert physiotherapy that is linked to their rheumatology pathway of care (Hamilton et al 2023). More recently newly developed pathways in Ireland have involved Clinical Specialist Physiotherapists in the triage of patients with possible Inflammatory Low Back Pain. There is a lack of information on physiotherapy services for this patient group in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). This national survey will seek to describe the provision of current physiotherapy services in public Rheumatology services where the majority of people with AxSpa seek care.

Objectives: To profile current physiotherapy services provided for people with AxSpa in public Rheumatology Centres in the ROI.

Methods: An online self –administered survey of public Rheumatology Centres in the ROI was undertaken with ethical approval granted by University of Limerick Research Ethics Committee (2023 12 33 EHS). A survey with multiple response options and open-ended questions was developed based on existing literature and the health service expertise within the research team. Following piloting the survey was sent to physiotherapy departments in all public hospitals with a rheumatology department in the Republic of Ireland (n=18). Analysis focused on descriptive statistics using SPSS.

Results: 14/18 sites (78%) responded to the survey. 10/14 (71%) have designated physiotherapists working in the treatment of rheumatology patients. 9/14 (64%) centres have physiotherapists working in triage clinics screening patients referred from General Practitioners to Rheumatology waiting lists. Of these 5/14 (35%) are running specific Inflammatory Low Back Pain triage clinics. In 71% of sites people with newly diagnosed AxSpa are routinely referred to physiotherapy. Only 1 site completes patient reported outcomes measures (PROM) electronically with 13/14 (93%) still using paper-based measures. The most used PROMs are the BASDI, BASFI and BASMI (Table 1). Most appointments are still conducted face-to-face, with 7/14 (50%) sites sometimes using phone appointments and 5/15 (36%) of sites sometimes using video appointments. Education and exercise were the most common treatment interventions provided to patients with AxSpa (Table 2). Group exercise intervention is not commonly used with 50% of sites never using this method of exercise delivery. Passive treatment interventions such as manual therapy, electrotherapy and thermotherapy are rarely used.

Conclusion: Physiotherapists in ROI are involved in the triage, assessment and treatment of patients with AxSpa. Treatment interventions used focused on active management and patient education. These findings give us a detailed understanding of the current state of physiotherapy services for people with AxSpa attending rheumatology departments in the ROI and will aid with future planning and review of physiotherapy services for this patient group.

REFERENCES: [1] Hamilton J, Drury A, Hardy A, Brady L, Lopata R, Dickinson S, Clark Z, Marshall L, Eddison J, Webb D. P192 What do patients value and need in the diagnosis, treatment and care of axial spondyloarthritis? Results from a quantitative study. Rheumatology. 2023 Apr 1;62

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the physiotherapists in Rheumatology sites around Ireland who completed the online survey.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared.

© The Authors 2025. This abstract is an open access article published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ). Neither EULAR nor the publisher make any representation as to the accuracy of the content. The authors are solely responsible for the content in their abstract including accuracy of the facts, statements, results, conclusion, citing resources etc.