Research Guides: Physical Therapy: Research articles

Research articles

GUIDELINES AND SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

Regularly updated guidelines that integrate evidence-based information about specific clinical problems.

Level of evidence: highest

Resource types: practice guidelines, systematic reviews, position statements

Search the following resources:

APTA Clinical Practice Guidelines (Log-in required) Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) from American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Based on a systematic review of the evidence. Published by APTA sections or by other health care associations, organizations, and societies, not by individuals. Published within the last 5 years. Follows inclusion criteria from the National Guideline Clearinghouse.
ECRI Guidelines Trust (formerly National Guideline Clearinghouse) A public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
List of Professional Associations for PBC Students and Alumni

NARIC (National Rehabilitation Information Center) This link opens in a new window
NARIC is an open-access library published by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. It's home to the REHABDATA database, which includes resources of particular importance for occupational therapy and physical therapy research.
NARIC also houses online reference guides focusing on disability services. It also includes lists of professional organizations in rehabilitative care.
UpToDate This link opens in a new window
Physician-authored clinical decision support resource used by clinicians to make point-of-care decisions. (In support of healthcare education in Arizona, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona has sponsored this for your use.)

SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS & SYNOPSES

Summarized evidence from high-quality studies surrounding a specific research question.

Level of evidence: high

Resource types: systematic reviews with a meta-analysis component, systematic reviews, other systematic review types (scoping, mapping, etc.)

Search the following resources:

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
A collection of databases that contain evidence, including systematic reviews, to inform healthcare decision-making for clinical treatment decisions. Provides other sources of information, including technology assessments, economic evaluations and individual clinical trials.
PubMed (Medline) This link opens in a new window
The most comprehensive medical database. This resource covers medicine, dentistry, nursing, physical therapy, biomedical research, clinical practice, administration, policy issues, and health care services. This public version provides a Clinical Queries search interface.
PEDro This link opens in a new window
A public database of randomised (randomized) trials (RCTs), systematic reviews and practice guidelines for evidence-based physiotherapy or physical therapy.

INDIVIDUAL STUDIES

Original research conducted to answer specific questions.

Level of evidence: mid - low

Resource types: clinical trials, epidemiological studies, qualitative studies, case series, case reports, etc.

Search the following resources:

CINAHL Plus This link opens in a new window
Article database covering the fields of nursing and allied health. CINAHL also includes Evidence-Based Care Sheets and Quick Lessons which provide concise overviews of diseases and conditions and outline the most effective treatment options.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Search the web for articles, books, theses, and other sources spanning many disciplines. Many results will be from scholarly sources. Access full-text articles from your search by selecting the FullText@NAU link. To see the FullText@NAU links in Google Scholar from any computer anywhere, link your Google Scholar account to NAU.
Journals@Ovid LWW Total Access Collection This link opens in a new window
Article database that contains the full text and graphics of a wide range of health sciences, nursing and related journals.
PubMed (Medline) This link opens in a new window
The most comprehensive medical database. This resource covers medicine, dentistry, nursing, physical therapy, biomedical research, clinical practice, administration, policy issues, and health care services. This public version provides a Clinical Queries search interface.
ScienceDirect Journals This link opens in a new window
Database of peer-reviewed journal articles and books for the sciences and social sciences.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Citation database of scholarly articles, books, and conference proceedings spanning the sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities. For an alternative, try Web of Science.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Citation database of scholarly articles spanning the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Indexing goes back to 1900. This database can also search for articles that cite a particular work or author. Formerly called Web of Knowledge.