The biomechanics and the production of knowledge in physiotherapy: survey based on the proceedings of Brazilian congress of biomechanics

Abstract

The increasing presence of the Physical Therapy (PT) community in the Brazilian Congress of Biomechanics (CBB) is well known. The Proceedings of the CBB Congresses have turned to important vehicles to scientific publications in Physical Therapy, but the characteristics of these studies have not been focus of analysis. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the contribution of PT to the studies published in the Proceedings of the CBB Congresses, from the first edition in 1992 (Proceedings of the IV CBB) to the 2009 edition (Proceedings of the XIII CBB), in order to verify which subareas of expertise in PT are applying the biomechanical knowledge on clinical and/or scientific context and the kind of research being developed. Six independent reviewers collected data related to the PT production according to standardized questionnaires. The results evidenced that the area of PT has increased its publications along the ten CBB Proceedings. Despite positive findings, we noticed a lack of biomechanical studies aimed at investigating interventions in patients. Thus, we can suggest that clinical studies with a longitudinal design could be developed in order to improve the application of biomechanical tools in therapeutic settings and to contribute to evaluation procedures in PT.