Evolution of the thematic structure and main producers of physical therapy interventions research: A bibliometric analysis (1986 to 2017)

•Physical therapy field (producers, impact) was characterised using bibliometrics.•Eight topics describe the physical therapy research indexed in PEDro.•The thematic structure of physical therapy was found to change from 1986 to 2017.•Growth in scientific output from emerging countries e.g. China and Brazil.•Most productive producers do not always have the highest average citation impact.