Efficacy of devices in teaching spinal mobilisation skills: A scoping review protocol

Introduction: Physiotherapy students are required to develop psychomotor skills essential for the assessment and treatment of patients with back pain. The technique involves generating forces on the spine to feel the level of intervertebral movement. Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to understand the extent and type of evidence in relation to the efficacy of manual devices used for teaching spinal manual therapy skills in tertiary education settings. Methods: A systematic scoping review will be conducted following the Joanna Briggs framework for scoping reviews. This review aims to map the concept, context, and measures of the efficacy of manual devices in their contribution to teaching spinal mobilisation skills. We will conduct an electronic database search (e.g., MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Database), a search of the grey literature (e.g., PROSPERO, OpenGrey, EThOS e-theses online service) and handsearching the identified articles’ reference lists. This review will seek English-language, full text primary or secondary research articles of any research design. There will be no time restrictions placed on the searches. A purpose-built data extraction tool will be designed in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The inclusion criteria following the participants, concept, and context (PCC) framework include higher education students that have been exposed to and used manual devices to affect their skills in manual mobilisation of the spine during their training in the field of musculoskeletal health.Overarching review question: What is reported in the literature regarding the efficacy of manual/ haptic devices for teaching spinal manual therapy psychomotor skills in tertiary education?Discussion: The results of this scoping review will inform the continued development and evaluation of a manual device designed to assist training physiotherapy students in spinal manual therapy and force generation parameters during spinal manual therapy techniques.