Objective: To determine the 12-month prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) among professional physical therapists (PTs) working in UST-CRS affiliated centers, their severity, associated factors and the PT's responses to injury. Methods: A 4-page self-administered questionnaire was used to gather demographic data, job-factor survey, body areas affected and their severity, injury prevention strategies and responses to injury. Results: Among the respondents, 87.23% (n = 41) experienced musculoskeletal symptoms in the past 12 months. The highest prevalence of WMSD among respondents was in the following anatomical areas: lower back (82.98%), upper back (57.45%), and neck (48.94%). Therapists with a severity score of > 3 for WMSD were in the low back (71.79%), hips/thighs (57.14%) and wrist/hands (54.55%). The only specialty area related to WMSD was orthopedics with concurrent increased neck, low back, wrist/hand, knee, upper back, ankle/foot, and thumb symptoms. 88.24% (n = 15) of the identified job-related factors were associated with either upper back or lower back symptoms. Strategies used by therapists (89.36%; n = 42) in response to WMSD included the use of selfprotective behaviors to reduce the work-related strain on their bodies. Discussion and Conclusion: WMSD among PTs working in UST-CRS affiliated centers were highest in the low back, upper back and neck. High severity scores associated to the low back, hips/thighs, and wrist/hands greatly affected their work, ADLs, and leisure. Almost all identified job-related factors were associated with spinal symptoms. Self-protective behaviors were often used by PTs to decrease the risk of WMSD.

Background and Objectives:An active lifestyle among children and adolescents plays an important role in the normal growth and development. However, studies from different countries have shown a decreasing participation of children in physical activity. In the Philippines, very little is known of preadolescents involvement in physical activity. This study aims to 1) determine the physical activity level of pre-adolescents using pedometers, and 2) examine the factors that could affect the physical activity level of children, i.e., sex, age, body mass index, number of hours watching television/using computers and kinds of transportation used in going to school. Methodology: Descriptive cross sectional study. 90 students ( 41 boys with mean age of 11.4 ± 0.8 with mean BMI of 20.8 ± 5.0 kg/m 2 and 49 girls with a mean age of 11.5 ± 0.7 with a mean BMI of 20.1 ± 4.1 kg/m 2 )from a private school in Manila, Philippines participated in the study from July to August 2006. Physical activity was measured using pedometers which counted the steps taken per day Results: The overall pedometer reading was 8085.5 ± 2839.3 steps per day for the total population with a statistically higher mean steps/day of 8785.0 ± 3000.5 for boys and 7499.7 ± 2535.2 for girls ( p value = 0.03). Only 5 of 41 boys and 5 of 49 girls were able to meet the recommended pedometers steps of 13,000 steps/day and 11,000 steps per day respectively. Sex, body mass index and mode of transportation were factors that affected the mean pedometer steps. Conclusion:A large majority of the study population was not able to meet the recommended steps per day to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Males, lower body mass index and walking to school had a positive association with higher mean pedometer count. A decreasing physical activity pattern could increase the likelihood of having lifestyle diseases in these children in the coming years.Recommendations: Children should be encouraged to have a more active lifestyle, not only in school, but also with the family.

Background:With the growing acceptance of web-enhanced courses, the Physical Therapy Department of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, implemented the e-Learning Access Program (e-LeAP) of University of Santo Tomas (UST) on some major courses. Objective: To determine the acceptance and attitudes of students on web-enhancing their courses including motivating factors and impediments affecting their usage. Methodology: Third, fourth and fifth year UST-PT students in academic year 2006-2007 who satisfied the inclusion criteria were recruited for this study. A questionnaire was formulated based on existing course evaluation forms and focus group discussions and was subjected to content validity by experts in PT education and e-learning. The questionnaire was pilot-tested on five randomly selected participants from each year level. The questionnaires were then handed out during class and returned immediately upon completion. Data was analyzed using mean, frequency, percentage and Chi square test to determine association between the following variables -year level, frequency of usage, technicalities and level of satisfaction to the service delivery. Results: Of the respondents, 63.17% agreed and 13.29% strongly agreed that they are satisfied with the services provided by e-LeAP and 95% recommends its continued use for the next school year. Conclusion: E-Learning is an acceptable and useful supplement to face-to-face delivery of Physical Therapy courses but improvements need to be done for more efficient service delivery. Future studies should be done to objectively measure the direct effects of web-enhanced courses to students' actual class performance and learning. R e s e a r c h R e p o r t R e s e a r c h R e p o r t