Physical therapists' perspectives and practices on weight management for chronic pain patients with obesity: a cross-sectional survey.

The survey reports self-reported attitudes and practices, not measured patient outcomes. Snowball sampling may over-represent therapists reachable through professional networks, so the sample may not represent all Swiss physical therapists. It included only German-speaking physical therapists in Switzerland, so results may not apply to French- or Italian-speaking regions. Because it was cross-sectional, it cannot show that education or beliefs caused better implementation. The survey was not fully validated at all stages, and some questions had missing values. Students were included, but excluding them did not change overall patterns. The survey focused on weight reduction and did not fully reflect modern obesity care, which also targets function, quality of life, and metabolic health.

The authors declared no conflict of interest. The work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Research Foundation Flanders for PhD funding.

Do not read the 65.4% implementation rate as evidence that physical therapist-delivered weight reduction improves chronic pain or obesity outcomes. This survey describes physical therapists' self-reported attitudes and practices, not patient results, and it cannot show that any intervention worked.