PTA-221 Project

It is strongly recommended that you perform subject heading searches for the medical conditions listed in this assignment. Subject headings return results about a specific subject, while keyword searches only return results containing the search terms. Recommended subject headings for some of your topics are listed below (if yours is not listed, then the phrase in the chart above is an established subject heading). Please see the PubMed tab to find the location of MeSH subject headings within that database. Subject headings in EBSCO databases can be searched by clicking on the "Subject Terms" link in the blue banner at the top of the page.

Subject headings for interventions are far less common, so I would advise using phrase searches with quotation marks (e.g. "task-specific locomotor training," "gait training") to find articles about that subject. Searching for both the intervention and condition at the same time may severely limit your results, so consider doing separate searches for both topics and then explain how the intervention article applies to the condition. For example, if you were studying balance deficits in Alzheimer's patients, you might research articles on balance training in dementia, then research articles on Alzheimer's Disease, and then describe how balance training may help those with Alzheimer's. The research can be tricky, so please contact the PTA Librarian if you are struggling to find articles.

NOTE: The established subject heading in PubMed for physical therapy is physical therapy modalities.

Pulmonary pathology - No subject headings available for this topic. Use the specific disease instead, such as asthma or silicosis.

Diabetes Mellitus - Use diabetes in CCC databases, diabetes mellitus in PubMed.

ALS - Use amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Parkinson's - Use Parkinson's disease.

Geriatrics - No helpful subject headings are available for geriatric physical therapy (the EBSCO heading "physical therapy for older people" only returns 30 results over 30 years). Use specific diseases instead and combine with the general subject headings physical therapy/physical therapy modalities and geriatrics. 

Pelvic health - No subject headings available for this topic. Use specific disease instead, such as pelvic inflammatory disease or pelvic organ prolapse.

Alzheimer's  - Use Alzheimer's Disease.

Cardiovascular - No subject headings available for this topic. Use specific disease instead, such as heart failure.

Oncology - This subject heading is available in CCC databases, but not PubMed. I recommend you combine a specific disease with the subject heading physical therapy (or physical therapy modalities in PubMed). Also, PubMed does not have subject headings for individual types of cancer, but rather uses the more general term "neoplasms" instead (e.g. lung neoplasms, brain neoplasms). A proper subject search for physical therapy for lung cancer patients in EBSCO databases and PubMed would look like this:

          Academic Search Premier: lung cancer and physical therapy

          PubMed: lung neoplasms and physical therapy modalities

Amputation - This topic has multiple possible subject headings, as shown in this PubMed MeSH search results page. If searching PubMed, use that page to determine the specific type of amputation you are studying. CCC databases offer multiple subject headings on this subject, including amputation, leg amputation, arm amputation, traumatic amputation, foot amputation, residual limbs, and disarticulation. If your specific subject is not listed, try a general keyword search like "hand amputation."

Pregnancy - PubMed offers many subject headings on this subject, although the general heading "pregnancy" would likely suffice. EBSCO databases also provide many possible subject headings (such as ectopic pregnancy), so either start with "pregnancy" or perform a subject search to see which heading would be most appropriate.

Rheumatoid arthritis - Use Arthritis, Rheumatoid in PubMed.

Osteoarthritis - PubMed's headings include osteoarthritis, osteoarthritis, osteoarthritis, spine, osteoarthritis, hip, and osteoarthritis, knee. EBSCO headings include osteoarthritis, spine osteoarthritis, shoulder osteoarthritis, knee osteoarthritis, hip osteoarthritis, and hand osteoarthritis.

Acute care: The EBSCO subject heading for this subject is acute medical care. PubMed does not offer a targeted subject heading, so please try searching the phrase "acute care" along with the subject heading "physical therapy modalities."