• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.79-90
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• 2000

Participants of this 1998 survey included 100 physical therapists working in hospitals located in Andong City. 77.7% of the participants were in their twenties and 20.2% in their forties. 46.4% of the participants were 3rd year students at a junior college, and 1.0% were college graduates. 67.6% of the participants had less than 5 years experience and 1.0% 16 years experience in their field. 59.6% of the participants were married. Regarding questions about occupational satisfaction, many of the participants replied "normal" for the first and third questions, and few answered "very much". Most of the participants answered "normal" for all the questions concerning their work environment with few replying "very much". With regards to awareness of the physical signs of fatigue, "occasionally, yes" were the most frequent answers. Regarding awareness of the psychological signs of fatigue, the similar proportions of participants answered "occasionally, yes" as that for "feeling nothing". Similarly, with regard to awareness of the neuro-sensitive signs of fatigue, there was a similar ratio of participants answering "occasionally, yes" and "feel nothing". It can be concluded that there are many causes of fatigue amongst physical therapists. Improvements in daily nutrition, mental health and general well-being are important in tackling these problems. It appears that fatigue amongst physical therapists may be cumulative and due to prolonged working hours To promote better daily functioning and early recovery from fatigue, appropriate assignments of working and resting hours are necessary. They would also benefit the prevention of symptomatic problems in the waist and shoulder.