Objective:To understand the cognition and attitude of nursing home managers towards physical constraints for the elderly, so as to clarify the direction and obstacles for improving physical constraints in nursing homes, and provide reference for regulating and reducing physical constraints for the elderly.Methods:Using phenomenological research methods, 15 nursing home managers who met the inclusion criteria were selected as the research subject for semi-structured in-depth interviews from June to September 2022. The Colaizzi 7-step analysis was used to analyze, summarize data, and extract themes.Results:The cognition and attitude of nursing home managers towards physical constraints were summarized into 4 themes, namely, the understanding of physical constraints by nursing home managers from both theoretical and practical perspectives, nursing home managers held different attitudes towards the use of physical restraint, reasonable and standardized implementation of physical restraint was the direction for improving physical restraint in nursing homes, improving the use of physical constraints in nursing homes faced obstacles from various aspects.Conclusions:There are currently many problems with the use of physical restraint for elderly people in nursing homes. Nursing home managers should continuously improve their cognition of constraints and actively play their important role in the process of constraint management. All sectors of society should pay attention and support to physical constraints for the elderly.