Priorities in physical therapy research: A scoping review.

The review included only physical therapy-specific priority-setting documents, so relevant priorities from broader rehabilitation or other health fields may have been missed. All included documents came from high-income countries, so applicability to low- and middle-income countries is unclear. The authors state the search was conducted in English, which may have missed important reports from non-English speaking countries. The review did not check whether the listed priorities had already been answered by existing research. The review was designed and conducted without patient and public involvement. Only nine of the 25 documents used the Delphi method, and methods varied widely. No priorities were found for women's health or geriatrics, and some emergent topics such as exoskeleton-assisted therapy or physical therapy during emergencies were not found.

The authors declared no competing interests. The paper did not state who funded the review.

Do not read this as evidence that physical therapy is cost-effective or that any listed intervention works. The review mapped research questions, not tested interventions.