PEDro - The Physiotherapy Evidence Database - is a database of randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.  The project is supported by a cadre of international physiotherapy organizations including the American Physical Therapy Association.

Okay - it doesn’t contain physiotherapy-only studies - but all the information in the database is pertinent to physiotherapy.

The PEDro database has a bit of a twist:  the clinical trials have a score based on the PEDro Scale which attempts to provide a quality assessment of the study.  Clinical trials are given a rating based on a 10-point scale with specific definitions for each criterion.

The database is small but growing and might be just the place to get an answer to your therapy questions.

I remember my last year of the PT program.  I couldn’t wait to get out of school and into the workplace.  Make some money.  Use my new skills.  (Of course, just coming out of college, money was the important item.)  I saw the statistics that APTA members got better jobs and found jobs faster than non-members, plus there was a new-student discount.  I joined immediately.

It didn’t take long, however, before other family priorities took their toll and that APTA membership just didn’t seem quite as important.  I dropped my membership after the student discount stopped and other matters challenged those same dollars.  Last year, after many years of not being a member, I returned to the APTA.

This is not a post to be pro- or con- membership in the APTA.  But, it did raise an interesting question.  I know why I did and did not renew my membership.  What are your thoughts?  Are you a member of the APTA?  Why or why not?