Practical Evidence-Based Physiotherapy

Authored by an international team of experts especially for physiotherapists, this new, one-of-a-kind resource examines evidence-based practice in physiotherapy - defining what constitutes evidence and how to implement findings in the day-to-day clinical setting. It discusses government and professional requirements for evidence-based medicine and clinical reasoning, and offers easy-to-follow guidelines for finding and applying evidence. It also offers useful strategies for determining whether benefits provided by physiotherapy interventions are significant enough to make the intervention worthwhile.

• Written specifically for physiotherapists
• Step-by-step guide to practice of evidence-based physiotherapy
• Written at different levels depending on reader's expertise:
• highlighted critical points and text box summaries for readers new to these concepts
detailed explanations in text for intermediate readers
footnotes for advanced readers
• Detailed presentation of strategies for searching for evidence, including using the www, search engines and physiotherapy specific databases
• Extensive consideration of clinical practice guidelines

Professor Rob Herbert initially trained as a physiotherapist. Rob has an interest in clinical research and conducts randomised trials investigating the effects of physical interventions for motor impairment. He was a founding Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy, which maintains the PEDro database (www.pedro.org.au), a unique database of randomised trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.

Kare Birger Hagen is Director, Reviews and Health Technology Assessment at the Norweigen Institute of Public Health, Oslo Norway.