Abstract
[Purpose] We investigated students’ comprehension of orthosis in different years of a physical therapy department. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects were 92 students of a physical therapy department of a three-year vocational school. A questionnaire survey was conducted of age, sex, school year, recognition of orthosis before admission, present recognition of orthosis, accurate recognition of orthosis, experience of handling orthosis, purpose of orthosis, diseases suitable for orthosis, understanding of parts and function, etc., and the results were compared among the school years. [Results] Comprehension of the first grade was lower than those of the other grades. The second grade understood the nomenclature and had experience of handling orthoses, but they had limited comprehension of the parts of orthoses, and the purpose and diseases suitable for orthosis. The third grade had almost full comprehension of orthosis. [Conclusion] It is necessary to practice education based on difference of the school years.
