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PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database)

This guide provides instruction on how to use the PEDro Database

screenshot of the PEDro website banner

What is PEDro?

  • PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database) is a free database that contains abstracts from national and international physiotherapy/physical therapy journals. 
  • Physiotherapy is the term used for physical therapy in many parts of the world
  • This database includes over 64,000 trials, reviews and guidelines of interventions.
  • The search can be filtered to specific therapies or body parts. 
  • Does not contain the full text of the materials it searches for, but will provide links where available. See our Finding Full Text section of this guide for further instructions. 
  • Maintained by the University of Sydney and Sydney Local Health District.
  • Run by physiotherapist/physical therapist volunteers who to help the database locate and rate trials, reviews and guidelines.

Is this just for physical therapists? 

While this database primarily holds research in physical therapy there is significant overlap in this database with other health professionals such as occupational therapists, athletic trainers, physicians, health educators, and other rehabilitation professionals.  

Databases are not one size fits all

For the best results, run your search not only in PEDro but within other health sciences databases such as PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL.