**6. Empirical evidence of Biokinetics research into non-communicable diseases in South Africa**

In order to determine whether the profession of Biokinetics has made a scientific rehabilitative contribution to the plight of patients suffering from NCDs in South Africa, the authors reviewed the Biokinetic research related to NCDs. In so



*The Profession of Biokinetics in South Africa: The Need for Access to the Public Healthcare System DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97756*



*The Profession of Biokinetics in South Africa: The Need for Access to the Public Healthcare System DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97756*


#### **Table 2.**

*Chronological listing of biokinetics research publications relating to investigations concerning noncommunicable diseases.*

far as Biokinetics is a uniquely South African profession, the empirical literature published will be focused on the South African population, and in all likelihood be published in South African academic journals, the authors reviewed the Sabinet database. In addition, the PubMed and Medline databases were used to identify international journal publications relating to biokinetics research which was focused on NCDs. This was in order to take both national and international research databases into consideration. The authors identified 599 records from Sabinet and 2241 records from PubMed and Medline using the keyword "biokinetics." All records underwent a three-phase evaluation process, namely: title, abstract, and full text analysis. Inclusion criteria was all biokinetic research concerning NCDs. Records therefore included randomised control trial experiments, observational experiments with and without concurrent controls, review papers, and narrative papers. Exclusion criteria were records unrelated to the profession of Biokinetics (exercise therapy) and to NCDs, biokinetic research related to neuromusculoskeletal injuries and rehabilitation, biokinetic research related to sport performance enhancement, and non-English papers. No time frame was instituted, all appropriates records were interrogated for inclusion. Based on the premise that this was a preliminary literature search in order to determine the involvement of the profession of Biokinetics in NCD research, the quality of the records was not accessed. 51 records complied with the inclusion criteria. Of the 51 records, 3 records were common to both the Sabinet database and to the PubMed and Medline databases. The extraction of the common records left 48 records. These records were classified into 16 experimental observations, two review articles, and 30 NCD profiling studies. Further stratification of the records revealed that there were four common categories: respiratory research (n = 1), cardiovascular research (n = 18), metabolic research (n = 22), and cardiometabolic research (n = 7). These categorises included three of the primary NCD mortality agents: cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as diabetes mellitus (which fell into the category of metabolic diseases). No records concerning research relating to cancer were uncovered. **Table 2** details the Biokinetics research publications relating to NCDs. The efficacy of the empirical findings of the randomised control trials measuring the impact of Biokinetics (exercise therapy) on NCDs were reviewed against Mill's Epidemiological Canons.

*The Profession of Biokinetics in South Africa: The Need for Access to the Public Healthcare System DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97756*
