Physical Therapy

Physical therapy is most frequently recommended for people with musculoskeletal conditions, like lower back pain, aiming to improve mobility, reduce pain, and enhance function.

Physical Therapy — Evidence Rating: Moderate to High Quality

Evidence for physical therapy comes from a robust body of literature, including numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses, often citing moderate-to-high quality evidence for its effectiveness, particularly for musculoskeletal conditions like low back pain and knee osteoarthritis. This evidence is primarily drawn from many randomized controlled trials, with limitations in quality often related to lack of blinding of participants and providers (due to the nature of the intervention). Physical therapy is widely recommended in clinical practice guidelines, and its real-world implementation in health systems is often widespread with strong adoption. Future research opportunities include comparative effectiveness studies between different physical therapy approaches (alone and in combination with other interventions), testing innovative and collaborative care models involving PT, and designing novel implementation strategies to optimize PT success on patient and implementation outcomes.

Evidence-based Scale

Research supports PT as effective for many people with musculoskeletal disorders, including, but not limited to, acute and chronic low back pain, neck pain, knee or shoulder pain, and pelvic pain. Importantly, PT may be effective for acute and chronic pain across many conditions, with evidence of effectiveness varying by underlying condition. Chronic pelvic pain is a particular type of chronic pain for which there are dedicated pelvic floor physical therapists. Research also supports the use of PT in the management of chronic conditions in which limitations in physical function may be secondary to injury, disease, or age-related decline. PT may also be beneficial for older adults to enhance strength and mobility and reduce the risk of falls.