ArticlePhysical therapy2025
Association Between Physical Therapists' Attitudes and Beliefs and the Functional Outcomes of Patients With Low Back Pain: A Multilevel Analysis Study.
Article in Physical therapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Observational
- In the Light of Healthcare Professionals: Beliefs About Chronic Low Back Pain.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThis study aimed to investigate the association of physical therapists' attitudes and beliefs about low back pain (LBP) with treatment outcomes within a publicly funded health care system.
methodsData from a national outpatient physical therapy service provider were analyzed. Functional status data were collected at intake and discharge. The Attitudes to Back Pain Scale in Musculoskeletal Practitioners questionnaire was used to assess physical therapists' attitudes. Multilevel regression models were employed to examine the effects of physical therapists' attitudes while controlling for patient and physical therapist characteristics.
resultsThe study included 68 physical therapists and 1043 patients. The physical therapist level explained a small portion of the variance in patients' function (4%-10%). A more biomedically oriented attitude was associated with a slightly lower patient function level (β = -.08), but patient characteristics largely influenced this effect. Other attitude factors were not significantly associated with function. Sensitivity analyses aligned with the main findings.
conclusionsThe study suggests that physical therapists' attitudes have a limited impact on LBP treatment outcomes within a publicly funded health care system. While a more biomedically oriented attitude was associated with slight negative effects, the clinical relevance is questionable. Further research in diverse settings is needed to validate and contextualize these findings. The study underscores the importance of considering patient-level factors and health care system context in interpreting practitioner effects on treatment outcomes. IMPACT: Patient characteristics are more significant in explaining functional outcomes than physical therapists' characteristics and attitudes. A marginally small association was observed, indicating that a more biomedically oriented attitude among physical therapists was linked to slightly lower patient functioning. Despite the observed association, the clinical relevance of physical therapists' attitudes in LBP treatment outcomes remains modest.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.