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Physical Therapy: Evidence-Based Practice

This guide will help you excel in your coursework, research, and practice at LIU.

Helpful Resources

  • PEDro

    The Physical Therapy Evidence Database produced by the Center for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy (CEPB), based at the school of Physiotherapy at the University of Sydney, Australia.

It provides access to abstracts of randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. The controlled trials in PEDro are all rated with a methodological quality score, which is useful in terms of enabling users to quickly assess the validity of each trial.   

What is Evidence-Based Physical Therapy (EBPT)?

Evidence-based physical therapy (EBPT) is physiotherapy informed by relevant high quality clinical research, patients' preferences and physiotherapists' practice knowledge.

Goals of EBPT

Evidence-based practice procedures helps to:

  • make sure that all decisions made for patient care take into account "the best available evidence"
  • better plan and evaluate service delivery
  • better analyze research studies and direct those findings to better care
  • take better measurement and do interpretation of outcomes to provide the best care possible
  • provide better patient information
  • better understand the reasons for lack of compliance by patients in relation to their PT care
  • accurately gauge the relationship between patients and physical therapists and its effect on health-related outcomes
  • develop theories based on evidence in practice

Databases for EBPT Literature

  • PEDro

    PEDro is the Physical Therapy Evidence Database produced by the Center for Evidence- Based Physiotherapy (CEPB), based at the school of Physiotherapy at the University of Sydney, Australia. It provides access to abstracts of randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. The controlled trials in PEDro are all rated with a methodological quality score, which is useful in terms of enabling users to quickly assess the validity of each trial.   

  • PubMed (MEDLINE)

The primary database for biomedical and health sciences abstracts, including the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE.

Provides up-to-date coverage of health and medical developments to stimulate research and improve patient care. Includes books and journals covering therapeutic interventions, reference information, decision support and more.

Contains scholarly and scientific journals covering topics in health and social sciences. Includes journals such as, Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy, Disability and Rehabilitation, and Physical Therapy Reviews.

Access to journals, books, legal cases, research instruments, standards of practice, and clinical trials. Features records dating back to 1937. Covers nursing, biomedicine, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health and other allied health disciplines.

A collection of six databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare and pharmacology decision-making. Subsets include systematic reviews and comprehensive registries of controlled trials, methodologies, and evaluations. 

Contains the full-text of nearly 100 journals covering the fields of physical therapy and sports medicine.