PEDro publications

This page contains papers published by the PEDro team which evaluate PEDro or evidence-based physiotherapy.

Evidence-based physiotherapy

  • Harrison L, Wong D, Traeger AC, Harmer AR, Jennings M, Moseley AM. Knowledge, skills and barriers to evidence-based practice and the impact of a flipped classroom training program for physical therapists: An observational study. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice. 2022 Nov 18;38(13):2702-13. DOI: 10.1080/09593985.2021.1990450.
  • Herbert R, Jamtvedt G, Hagen KB, Elkins MR. Practical Evidence-Based Physiotherapy-E-Book: Practical Evidence-Based Physiotherapy-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences; 2022 Jul 18.
  • West CA, Guemann M, Ilhan E. You Ask #PEDroAnswers, a global social media campaign to help physiotherapists improve their searching skills to find high-quality evidence. Eur Rehab J 2022;2(1):18. DOI:10.52057/erj.v2i1.18.
  • Moseley AM, Elkins MR, Van der Wees PJ, Pinheiro MB. Using research to guide practice: the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Braz J Phys Ther 2020;24(5):384-391. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2019.11.002.
  • Melman A, Elkins MR, Kamper SJ, Moseley AM. Tackling the language barrier to implementing research into practice: a survey of usage of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. Braz J Phys Ther 2020;24(6):524-531. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2019.10.003.
  • Herbert R, Jamtvedt G, Hagen KB, Mead J. Practical evidence-based physiotherapy (2nd Edition). Elsevier: Edinburgh, 2012. ISBN:9780702054501.
  • Maher CG, Sherrington C, Elkins M, Herbert RD, Moseley AM. Challenges for evidence-based physical therapy: accessing and interpreting high-quality evidence on therapy. Phys Ther 2004;84(7):644-54. DOI:10.1093/ptj/84.7.644.
  • Herbert RD, Sherrington C, Maher C, Moseley AM. Evidence-based practice – imperfect but necessary. Physiother Theory Pract 2001;17(3):201-11. DOI:10.1080/095939801317077650.
  • Herbert RD, Maher CG, Moseley AM, Sherrington C. Regular review: effective physiotherapy. BMJ 2001;323(7316):788-90. DOI:10.1136/bmj.323.7316.788.

Description of the guidelines, reviews and trials indexed in PEDro

  • Moseley AM, Hernando DF, Saragiotto BT, Sharma S, Maharjan E, Elkins MR. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) has better free full-text access than PubMed: An observational study. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy. 2022 Jan 1;26(1):100392. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2022.100392.
  • Chen Q, Sánchez Medina CM, Maher CG, Ferreira GE, Olivares Hernández AE, Godínez VV, Gómez AF, Vella SP, Machado GC. Almost one in five physiotherapy trials excluded people due to lack of language proficiency: A meta-epidemiological study. J Clin Epidemiol 2022;152:13-22. DOI:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2022.09.007.
  • Carballo-Costa L, Michaleff ZA, Costas R, Quintela-del-Río A, Vivas-Costa J, Moseley AM. Evolution of the thematic structure and main producers of physical therapy interventions research: A bibliometric analysis (1986 to 2017). Braz J Phys Ther 2022;26(4):100429. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2022.100429.
  • Carvalho FA, Elkins MR, Franco MR, Pinto RZ. Are plain-language summaries included in published reports of evidence about physiotherapy interventions? Analysis of 4421 randomised trials, systematic reviews and guidelines on the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Physiother 2019;105(3):354-61. DOI:10.1016/j.physio.2018.11.003.
  • Elkins M, Moseley AM. Societá Italiana de Fisioterapia and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Arch Physiother 2019;9(5):Epub. DOI:10.1186/s40945-019-0058-3.
  • Kamper SJ, Moseley AM, Herbert RD, Maher CG, Elkins MR, Sherrington C. 15 years of tracking physiotherapy evidence on PEDro, where are we now? (editorial). Br J Sports Med 2015;49(14):907-9. DOI:10.1136/bjsports-2014-094468.
  • Kamper SJ, Moseley AM, Elkins MR. Clinical trials in sports physiotherapy. Building on five decades of research to produce even better trials: a critical review and tips for improvements (editorial). Br J Sports Med 2014;48(5):346-8. DOI:10.1136/bjsports-2013-092968.
  • Elkins MR, Moseley AM, Sherrington C, Herbert RD, Maher CG. Growth in the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) and use of the PEDro scale (editorial). Br J Sports Med 2013;47(4):188-9. DOI:10.1136/bjsports-2012-091804.
  • Shiwa SR, Costa LO, Moser AD, Aguiar IC, Oliveira LV. PEDro: a base de dados de evidências em fisioterapia (PEDro: the physiotherapy evidence database). Fisioterapia em Movimento 2011;24(3):523-33. DOI:10.1590/S0103-51502011000300017.
  • Sherrington C, Moseley A, Herbert R, Elkins M, Maher CG. Ten years of evidence to guide physiotherapy interventions: Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) (editorial). Br J Sports Med 2010;44(12):836-7. DOI:10.1136/bjsm.2009.066357.
  • Maher CG, Moseley AM, Sherrington C, Elkins MR, Herbert RD. A description of the trials, reviews, and practice guidelines indexed in the PEDro database. Phys Ther 2008;88(9):1068-77. DOI:https://dx.doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20080002.
  • Moseley AM, Herbert RD, Sherrington C, Maher CG. Evidence for physiotherapy practice: a survey of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Aust J Physiother 2002;48(1):43-9. DOI:10.1016/S0004-9514(14)60281-6.
  • Moseley A, Sherrington C, Herbert R, Maher C. The extent and quality of evidence in neurological physiotherapy: an analysis of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Brain Impair 2000;1(2):130-40. DOI:10.1375/brim.1.2.130.
  • Sherrington C, Herbert RD, Maher CG, Moseley AM. PEDro. A database of randomized trials and systematic reviews in physiotherapy. Man Ther 2000;5(4):223-6. DOI:10.1054/math.2000.0372.

Clinical practice guidelines

  • Uzeloto JS, Moseley AM, Elkins MR, Franco MRC, Pinto RZ, Freire APCF, Ramos EMC. The quality of clinical practice guidelines for chronic respiratory diseases and the reliability of the AGREE II: an observational study. Physiother 2017;103(4):439-45. DOI:10.1016/j.physio.2016.11.002.

Systematic reviews

  • Nascimento DP, Gonzalez GZ, Araujo AC, Moseley AM, Maher CG, Costa LOP. Eight out of every ten abstracts of low back pain systematic reviews presented spin and inconsistencies with the full text: an analysis of 66 systematic reviews. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2020;50(1):17-23. DOI:10.2519/jospt.2020.8962.
  • Elkins MR. Updating systematic reviews (editorial). J Physiother 2018;64(1):1-3. DOI:10.1016/j.jphys.2017.11.009.
  • Elkins MR, Herbert RD, Moseley AM, Sherrington C, Maher C. Rating the quality of trials in systematic reviews of physical therapy interventions. Cardiopulm Phys Ther J 2010;21(3):20-6. PMCID:PMC2941354.
  • Moseley AM, Elkins MR, Herbert RD, Maher CG, Sherrington C. Cochrane reviews use more rigorous methods than non-Cochrane reviews: survey of systematic reviews in physiotherapy. J Clin Epidemiol 2009;62(10):1021-30. DOI:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2008.09.018.

Randomised controlled trials

  • Medina CM, Camacho CG, Moseley AM, Castellanos XT, Chen Q, Denova-Gutiérrez E, Cashin AG, Godínez VV, Gómez AF, Hernández AE, Ferreira GE. The methodological quality of clinical trials of physical therapy for low back pain varies between countries with different income levels. A meta-epidemiological study. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy. 2024 Nov 1;28(6):101139. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2024.101139.
  • Hernando DF, Elkins M, Freire AP. Reporting of confidence intervals, achievement of intended sample size, and adjustment for multiple primary outcomes in randomised trials of physical therapy interventions: an analysis of 100 representatively sampled trials. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy. 2024 May 21:101079. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2024.101079.
  • Silva NS, Elkins MR, Lemes ÍR, Stubbs PW, Franco MR, Pinto RZ. Clinical trial registration has become more prevalent in physical therapy but it is still inadequate: A meta-research study. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice. 2023 Oct 1;67:102854. DOI:10.1016/j.msksp.2023.102854.
  • Freire APCF, Elkins MR, Ramos EMC, Moseley AM. Use of 95% confidence intervals in the reporting of between-group differences in randomized controlled trials: analysis of a representative sample of 200 physical therapy trials. Braz J Phys Ther 2019;23(4):302-10. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2018.10.004.
  • Nascimento DP, Costa LOP, Gonzalez GZ, Maher CG, Moseley AM. Abstracts of low back pain trials are poorly reported, contain spin of information and are inconsistent with the full text: an overview study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2019;100(10):1976-85. DOI:10.1016/j.apmr.2019.03.024.
  • Oliveira CB, Elkins MR, Lemes ÍR, de Oliveira Silva O, Briani RV, Monteiro HL, de Azevedo FM, Pinto RZ. A low proportion of systematic reviews in physical therapy are registered: a survey of 150 published systematic reviews. Braz J Phys Ther 2018;22(3):177-83. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2017.09.009.
  • Gonzalez GZ, Moseley AM, Maher CG, Nascimento DP, Costa LDCM, Costa LO. Methodologic quality and statistical reporting of physical therapy randomized controlled trials relevant to musculoskeletal conditions. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2018;99(1):129-36. DOI:10.1016/j.apmr.2017.08.485.
  • Hoderlein X, Moseley AM, Elkins MR. Citation of prior research has increased in introduction and discussion sections with time: a survey of clinical trials in physiotherapy. Clin Trials 2017;14(4):372-80. DOI:10.1177/1740774517699821.
  • Yamato TP, Maher CG, Saragiotto BT, Hoffmann TC, Moseley AM. How completely are physiotherapy interventions described in reports of randomised trials? Physiother 2016:102(2):121-26. DOI:10.1016/j.physio.2016.03.001. There are several editorials related to this article, including: 10.1016/j.jphys.2016.02.015, 10.2519/jospt.2016.0108, 10.1016/j.math.2016.05.002, 10.16965/ijpr.2016.v4.i3.editorial, 10.3233/PPR-160080, 10.1080/21679169.2016.1195042, 10.2522/ptj.2016.96.7.930, 10.1590/bjpt-rbf.2014.0182, 10.1080/10669817.2016.1210343, 10.1097/PEP.0000000000000329, 10.3138/ptc.68.4.GEE, 10.1055/s-0035-1567125, and 10.1080/09593985.2017.1304065.
  • Pinto RZ, Elkins MR, Moseley AM, Sherrington C, Herbert RD, Maher CG, Ferreira PH, Ferreira ML. Many randomized trials of physical therapy interventions are not adequately registered: a survey of 200 published trials. Phys Ther 2013;93(3):299-309. DOI:10.2522/ptj.20120206. There are several editorials related to this article, including: 10.1590/S1413-35552012000600001, 10.2522/ptj.2013.93.1.6, 10.2519/jospt.2012.0111, 10.1016/S1836-9553(12)70122-4, 10.1016/j.math.2012.10.009, and 10.1016/j.physio.2012.10.001.
  • Geha NN, Moseley AM, Elkins MR, Chiavegato LD, Shiwa SR, Costa LOP. The quality and reporting of randomized trials in cardiothoracic physical therapy could be substantially improved. Respir Care 2013:58(11):1899-906. DOI:10.4187/respcare.02379.
  • Michaleff ZA, Costa LOP, Moseley AM, Maher CG, Elkins MR, Herbert RD, Sherrington C. CENTRAL, PEDro, PubMed, and EMBASE are the most comprehensive databases indexing randomized controlled trials of physical therapy interventions. Phys Ther 2011;91(2):190-7. DOI:10.2522/ptj.20100116.
  • Moseley AM, Sherrington C, Elkins MR, Herbert RD, Maher CG. Indexing of randomised controlled trials of physiotherapy interventions: a comparison of AMED, CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, Hooked on Evidence, PEDro, PsycINFO and PubMed. Physiother 2009;95(3):151-6. DOI:10.1016/j.physio.2009.01.006.

Core physiotherapy journals

  • Costa LOP, Moseley AM, Sherrington C, Maher CG, Herbert RD, Elkins MR. Core journals that publish clinical trials of physical therapy interventions. Phys Ther 2010;90(11):1631-40. DOI:10.2522/ptj.20090419.
  • Maher C, Moseley A, Sherrington C, Herbert R. Core journals of evidence-based physiotherapy practice. Physiother Theory Pract 2001;17(3):143-51. DOI:10.1080/095939801317077605.

Measurement properties of the PEDro scale

  • Moseley AM, Pinheiro MB. Research Note: Evaluating risk of bias in randomised controlled trials. Journal of Physiotherapy 2022;68(2): 148-150. DOI:10.1016/j.jphys.2022.02.003.
  • Moseley AM, Rahman P, Wells GA, Zadro JR, Sherrington C, Toupin-April K, Brosseau L. Agreement between the Cochrane risk of bias tool and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale: a meta-epidemiological study of randomized controlled trials of physical therapy interventions. PLoS One 2019;14(9):e0222770. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0222770.
  • Yamato TP, Maher C, Koes B, Moseley A. The PEDro scale had acceptably high convergent validity, construct validity and inter-rater reliability in evaluating methodological quality of pharmaceutical trials. J Clin Epidemiol 2017;86:176-81. DOI:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2017.03.002.
  • Moseley A, Costa LOP, Hegenscheidt S. Interrater- und Paralleltest-Reliabilität der deutschen Version der PEDro-Skala (Interrater and Parallel Forms Reliability of the German Version of the PEDro Scale). physioscience 2015;11(4):164-70. DOI:10.1055/s-0035-1554029.
  • Brosseau L, Laroche C, Sutton A, Guitard P, King J, Poitras S, et al. Une version franco-canadienne de la Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale : l’échelle PEDro. Physiother Canada 2015;67(3):232-9. DOI:10.3138/ptc.2014-37F.
  • Shiwa S, Costa LC, Costa LO, Moseley A, Hespanhol Junior LC, Venancio R, et al. Reproducibility of the Portuguese version of the PEDro Scale. Cad Saude Publica 2011;27(10):2063-8. DOI:10.1590/S0102-311X2011001000019.
  • Macedo LG, Elkins MR, Maher CG, Moseley AM, Herbert RD, Sherrington C. There was evidence of convergent and construct validity of Physiotherapy Evidence Database quality scale for physiotherapy trials. J Clin Epidemiol 2010:63(8):920-5. DOI:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.10.005.
  • Maher CG, Sherrington C, Herbert RD, Moseley AM, Elkins M. Reliability of the PEDro Scale for rating quality of randomized controlled trials. Phys Ther 2003;83(8):713-21. DOI:10.1093/ptj/83.8.713.

Factors which influence the quality of physiotherapy trials

  • Pinheiro MB, Reis AH, Baldwin JN, Moseley AM, Bapat V, Chan CS, Kwok WS, Sherrington C. Quantity and quality are increasing but there’s room for improvement: A scoping review of physical activity intervention trials. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy. 2024 Mar 23:101051. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2024.101051.
  • Zadro JR, Amorim AB, Ferreira G, Hu X, Becerra RE, Reza BS, Khan S, Moseley AM. What makes a great clinical trial in physiotherapy? Physiother Theory Pract 2021 Jan 4:Epub ahead of print. DOI:10.1080/09593985.2020.1870252.
  • Amorim AB, Zadro JR, Moseley AM. What makes a great clinical trial? Exploring the features of five important physiotherapy trials (editorial). Br J Sports Med 2021;55(2):78-80. DOI:10.1136/bjsports-2020-102088
  • Lee H, Herbert RD, Lamb SE, Moseley AM, McAuley JH. Investigating causal mechanisms in randomised controlled trials. Trials 2019;20(524):Epub. DOI:10.1186/s13063-019-3593-z.
  • Herbert R. Research note: significance testing and hypothesis testing: meaningless, misleading and mostly unnecessary. J Physiother 2019;65(3):178-81. DOI:10.1016/j.jphys.2019.05.001.
  • Yamato TP, Maher CG, Saragiotto BT, Catley MJ, Moseley AM. Rasch analysis suggested that items from the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist can be summed to create a score. J Clin Epidemiol 2018;101:28-34. DOI:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2018.05.014.
  • Zoldan Gonzalez G, Moseley AM, Maher CG, Nascimento DP, da Cunha Menezes Costa L, Oliveira Pena Costa L. Quality of musculoskeletal trials: methodological quality and statistical reporting of physical therapy randomized controlled trials relevant to musculoskeletal conditions. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2018;99(1):129-36. DOI:10.1016/j.apmr.2017.08.485.
  • Maas E, Maher C, Moseley A, Annevelink R, Jagersma J, Ostelo R. Funding is related to the quality, conduct, and reporting of trial reports in musculoskeletal physical therapy: a survey of 210 published trials. Physiother Theory Pract 2016;32(8):628-35. DOI:10.1080/09593985.2016.1222472.
  • Elkins MR, Moseley AM. Intention-to-treat analysis. J Physiother 2015;61(3):165-7. DOI:10.1016/j.jphys.2015.05.013.
  • Moseley AM, Elkins M, Janer-Duncan L, Hush J. The quality of reports of randomized controlled trials varies between subdisciplines of physiotherapy. Physiother Canada 2014;66(1):36-43. DOI:10.3138/ptc.2012-68.
  • Shiwa SR, Moseley AM, Maher CG, Costa LOP. Language of publication has a small influence on the quality of reports of controlled trials of physiotherapy interventions. J Clin Epidemiol 2013;66(1):78-84. DOI:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2012.08.004.
  • Moseley AM, Herbert RD, Maher CG, Sherrington C, Elkins MR. Reported quality of randomized controlled trials of physiotherapy interventions has improved over time. J Clin Epidemiol 2011;64(6):594-601. DOI:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.08.009.

Evaluation of PEDro usage

  • Wong JJ, Sharma S, Wong A, Moseley AM, Ilhan E. Exploring the use and usability of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) ‘Evidence in your inbox’ e-mail alert service. Health Information and Libraries Journal 2024 Nov 28:Epub ahead of print. DOI:10.1111/hir.12559.
  • Zadro JR, Moseley AM, Elkins MR, Maher CG. PEDro searching has improved over time: a comparison of search commands from two six-month periods three years apart. Int J Med Inform 2019;121:1-9. DOI:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2018.10.011.
  • Moseley AM, Elkins MR. Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro): 18.6 million questions answered … and counting. Fisioterapia 2018;40(3):109-11. DOI:10.1016/j.ft.2017.11.001
  • Yamato TP, Arora M, Stevens ML, Elkins MR, Moseley AM. Quality, language, subdiscipline and promotion were associated with article accesses on Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Physiother 2018;104(1):122-8. DOI:10.1016/j.physio.2017.08.003.
  • Takasaki H, Elkins MR, Moseley AM. Use of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) in Japan. Phys Ther Res 2016;19(1):58-66. DOI:10.1298/ptr.e9881.
  • Stevens ML, Moseley A, Elkins MR, Lin CC-W, Maher CG. What searches do users run on PEDro? An analysis of 893,971 search commands over a 6-month period. Methods Inf Med 2016;55(4):333-9. DOI:10.3414/ME15-01-0143.
  • Elkins MR, Moseley AM, Pinto RZ. Usage evaluation of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) among Brazilian physical therapists. Braz J Phys Ther 2015;19(4):320-8. DOI:10.1590/bjpt-rbf.2014.0104.
  • Campos TF, Beckenkamp PR, Moseley AM. Usage evaluation of a resource to support evidence-based physiotherapy: the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Physiother 2013;99(3):252-7. DOI:10.1016/j.physio.2012.12.001.

DiTA (Diagnostic Test Accuracy)

  • Verhagen A, Hancock M. Research note: diagnostic test accuracy studies. J Physiother 2021;67(1):69-71. DOI:10.1016/j.jphys.2020.12.004.
  • Kaizik MA, Hancock MJ, Herbert RD. A description of the primary studies of diagnostic test accuracy indexed on the DiTA database. Physiother Res Int 2020;25(4):e1871. DOI:10.1002/pri.1871.
  • Moers S. PEDros kleine Schwester – DiTA – neue Online-Datenbank für Testverfahren und Assessments. physiopraxis 2020;18(6):16-17. DOI:10.1055/a-1159-8670.
  • Kaizik MA, Garcia AN, Hancock MJ, Herbert RD. Measurement properties of quality assessment tools for studies of diagnostic accuracy. Braz J Phys Ther 2020;24(2):177-84. DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2019.01.009.
  • Kaizik MA, Hancock MJ, Herbert RD. DiTA: a database of diagnostic test accuracy studies for physiotherapists. J Physiother 2019;65(3):119-20. DOI:10.1016/j.jphys.2019.05.006.

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The database was last updated on 2 December 2024 (this includes records added or amended since 4 November 2024). The next update is planned for 5 February 2024. The total number of records on the database is 63,680.