Microwave diathermy in physiotherapy units: lack of maintenance

Aim: Rehabilitation practice for most patients consists of a combined use of thermotherapy that is produced from diathermy devices resulting faster and deeper heating to the patient, considerable concerns about occupational exposure to electromagnetic radiation for the operators has to be taken into account. In most occasions, physiotherapists have involved multi-hour treatment sessions to different patients, resulting overuse of the diathermy device. The time extended use of the device periodically leads to mechanical failures or troubleshooting of the machine which, in most cases, are not perceived by the operator of the device. All device's efficient functionality have a major impact on the completion of the treatment procedure in a large percentage of specific clinical conditions. If the device's operating condition is technically out of order or in a mode of over-activity, operators are mainly seeking solutions by reviewing the clinical case of the patient. This is eliminating their contribution during the primary therapeutic plan or increasing the treatment sessions. In this case, the radial burden from the device poses health hazards for staff and patients. Method: In this work, an extended survey is presented including 553 physiotherapy centres concerning usability and maintenance issues of diathermy devices throughout Greek territory. Results: Physiotherapists' perceptions on topics as technical support, maintenance and safe use of different kind of diathermy devices with emphasis on micro-wave diathermy (MWD) will extract auxiliary observations upon their clinical practice routines.