Abstract:

Introduction:
There are some myths and beliefs related to physical therapy taken by the general population. These can cause changes in people's behaviour, becoming harmful to health. Among the tasks of the physiotherapist is to educate patients in basic health concepts so as not to perpetuate these myths.
The aim of this study is to compare the roots of some myths between first-year and final-year physiotherapy students to assess the role of university education in this regard.

Methodology:
An online survey on the common myths of the general population related to physiotherapy has been sent to first and fourth year students of Physiotherapy of the University of Valencia. The survey has two answer options: agree or disagree.

The statements are related to:
1) osteoarthritis,
2) posture and its relationship with pain,
3) rest in episodes of low back pain,
4) impact as an injurious stimulus,
5) pain and imaging tests,
6) flexing the lumbar spine and injuries,
7) pain equals injury and
8) correlation between intensity of pain and severity of injury.

Results:
73 first-year and 72 fourth-year physiotherapy students participated in the study. Of the 8 myths that students were asked about, there was a reduction between the percentage of them between first and fourth. Regarding pain in osteoarthritis, 89% in the first and 70.8 in the fourth. 94.5% of first-year students think that posture is related to pain, compared to 58.3% of fourth-year students. 37% of first-year students think that rest is beneficial for low back pain, while only 4.2% of fourth-year students think so. Regarding the impact, 67.1% of first-year students think that it is harmful, while 41.7% of fourth-year students believe it. 50.7% of first-year students believe that imaging tests are necessary to make a diagnosis, while only 9.7% of fourth-year students believe it. 91.8% of first-year students think that bending the back is harmful, compared to 56.9% of fourth-year students. 20.5% of first year students think that pain equals injury, compared to 1.6% of fourth year students. Finally, 26% of first graders believe that pain intensity is correlated with severity, while only 2.8% of fourth graders believe it.

Conclusions:
The number of students who believe in myths related to physiotherapy decreases after undergraduate university training. However, there is still a high percentage of erroneous beliefs in both first and fourth year students that make it necessary to consider including specific teaching about it during undergraduate training.

Keywords:

Health myths, education, physiotherapy.