LibGuides: Physical Therapy: Overview

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Introduction to Library Research in Physical Therapy

For research in physical therapy, you will primarily be looking for journal articles using the databases (linked below) PubMed/Medline, which is the largest biomedical research database worldwide, and CINAHL, which indexes journals and other information sources in the fields of physical therapy and other allied health areas. Several other helpful databases are also linked below. Links to other information (how to find books, helpful videos, etc.) are in the left margin.

Frequently Used Databases

Guide to Physical Therapist Practice 3.0
Description of physical therapist practice for use by physical therapist and physical therapist assistant educators, students, and clinicians.

This resource serves the following purposes:

• Describing physical therapist practice.
• Briefly outlining the roles of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants across a broad range of settings and practice opportunities.
• Describing the settings in which physical therapists practice.
• Standardizing terminology used in and related to physical therapist practice.
• Briefly reviewing the educational preparation of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants.
• Delineating the clinical decision-making process that occurs as part of patient and client management.
• Describing the examination and evaluation process with a focus on tests and measures.
• Explaining the selection process for choosing interventions and reviews specific interventions that are part of physical therapist practice.
• Describing how outcome measures are used.
AccessPhysiotherapy
Physical therapy textbooks, videos, an interactive cadaver dissection tool, NPTE review, and more.

Includes:
• 20 leading physical therapy textbooks
• More than 500 videos
• NPTE review
• Anatomy & Physiology Revealed
• PT lecture series
• Quick Answers
• Custom Curriculum

Subscribe to AccessPhysiotherapy’s free eNewsletter.
CINAHL Complete
Primary journal index for allied health professions including Physical Therapy, and for nursing.

1937-present. Covers nursing, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health, and 17 allied health disciplines. Includes journal articles, evidence-based care sheets, health care books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of practice, educational software, audiovisuals, and book chapters.
Cochrane Library
Evidence-based medicine. Systematic reviews of literature and other reviews of recent evidence in all areas of health care.

Includes these components:

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) is the leading resource for systematic reviews in health care. Each Cochrane Review is a peer-reviewed systematic review that has been prepared and supervised by a Cochrane Review Group (editorial team) in The Cochrane Collaboration according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions or Cochrane Handbook for Diagnostic Test Accuracy Reviews. Currently there are over 5000 Cochrane Reviews including nearly 2,000 protocols providing an explicit description of the research methods and objectives for Cochrane Reviews in progress. Existing Reviews are updated as new information becomes available.

The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) includes details of published articles taken from bibliographic databases (notably MEDLINE and EMBASE), and other published and unpublished sources. CENTRAL records include the title of the article, information on where it was published (bibliographic details) and, in many cases, a summary of the article. They do not contain the full text of the article. About three-fifths of the records in CENTRAL are taken from MEDLINE. Also, each Cochrane Review Group maintains and updates a collection of controlled trials relevant to its own area of interest, these are called ‘Specialized Registers’. Each Cochrane Review Group may also collect items that are not relevant to its own field of interest; these are known as ‘Handsearch Results’.

Cochrane Clinical Answers (CCAs) provide a readable, digestible, clinically-focused entry point to rigorous research from Cochrane Reviews. They are designed to be actionable and to inform point-of-care decision-making. Each CCA contains a clinical question, a short answer, and data for the outcomes from the Cochrane Review deemed most relevant to practising healthcare professionals, our target audience. The evidence is displayed in a user-friendly tabulated format that includes narratives, data, and links to graphics. Cochrane Clinical Answers were developed by Cochrane Innovations and Wiley.
ICE Learning Center
Short videos in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and child development.

Covers musculoskeletal, nervous system, mental & behavioral, respiratory, settings, and pediatric issues; also includes StrokeHelp Online Courses, with videos, PDF workbooks, faculty guides, and assignments & exams.
Gale OneFile: Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine
Full-text database containing more than 100 journals in physical therapy and sports medicine.
PubMed
Largest biomedical research database worldwide. Always start searches for Physical Therapy literature in this database or in CINAHL.

PubMed indexes over 4,000 biomedical, nursing, dentistry and related journals, with over 21 million citations in MEDLINE, PreMEDLINE and related databases. PubMed is produced by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and provides links between article citations and relevant data in other NCBI ENTREZ databases, including Nucleotide and Protein Sequences, Protein Structures, Complete Genomes, Taxonomy, and others.

Includes journal literature, 1950-present; selected online books. This version uses Outside Tool to link to resources at U-M Flint.

CoCites, "a citation-based method for searching scientific literature," is a Chrome- and Firefox-compatible browser plugin you can use with PubMed.
Visible Body
Why choose this? Visible Body is an interactive visual database of the human body, with thousands of 3D models, animations, CTI & MRI scans, definitions, pronunciations, and more. Instructors can use Courseware for assignments and tracking students' progress.
Target audience: Students in the health sciences and biology.
What it covers: Five modules (with mobile apps) covering anatomy, physiology, muscles, and pathology.
Special instructions: You must create a user account with your umich.edu email. Please use an up-to-date version of Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.

Our subscription includes these modules:
• Anatomy & Physiology: Covers cells & tissues, as well as the major systems of the human body.
• Human Anatomy Atlas: Comprehensive 3D atlas of the human body.
• Muscle Premium: Detailed guide to understanding how muscles and bones interact, and how common injuries and conditions occur.
• Physiology & Pathology: Interactive guide to core processes and common diseases of the human body.
• Physiology Animations: Video reference atlas with 3D animations that communicate core physiology and common conditions.

Apps for these modules are available for iPhone/iPad and Android devices. Quizzes must be completed on a computer.

Additional help