LibGuides: Physical Therapy: Overview

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

AccessPhysiotherapy This link opens in a new window
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

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CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
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.
Short video tutorials on using CINAHL
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
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.

The Advanced Search option lets you search specifically for PICO terms.
ICE Learning Center This link opens in a new window
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 This link opens in a new window
Full-text database containing more than 100 journals in physical therapy and sports medicine.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
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.

Proximity searching is available, which allows you to find terms within specified distances from each other.

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.