APTA Podcasts

This learning health system can serve as a blueprint for physical therapists to make optimal use of routinely collected clinical data for improving care for patients with a variety of conditions.

A light came on not only in a dark hospital basement but in a future PT’s head that this was her ideal career. By Linda Pillow, PT

A PT recalls overcoming her own obstacles to become a board-certified orthopaedic clinical specialist and help others reach their goals. By Natalie Snyder, PT, DPT

A light came on not only in a dark hospital basement but in a future PT’s head that this was her ideal career.

Janet R Bezner, PT, DPT, PhD, FAPTA, discusses simple, actionable items related to your personal and professional well-being as a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant.

The future of health care professional education is moving from a focus on the individual to embrace the health of the larger society. Read the PTJ article

With many state legislatures now or soon to be in session, now’s the time to get up-to-speed on what’s happening in physical therapy advocacy at the state level. Topics covered include direct access, the physical therapy compact, telehealth, and more.

The first wave of this study’s findings provides insights into physical therapist education and identified differences between physical therapist and medical student perceptions. Read PTJ Article.

The pandemic has affected physical therapy professionals in many ways, including mentally and financially. PTs and PTAs, be prepared for the federal loan repayment to start up again, and how to give yourself permission to spend on the fun stuff.

Get answers to questions specifically directed at nutritional needs of a busy clinician. Learn how to best hydrate your body, what quick snacks, herbs and spices pack the most nutritional punch, plus great fermented foods, and how to figure out if you’re having healthy bowel movements.

Racism exists throughout the organizations and systems that make up the physical therapy profession in the United States. Statements of support must be substantiated by actions that drive change throughout physical therapy organizations. Read PTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal article.

The author of a recent study, “Moral Injury Signified by Levels of Moral Distress and Burnout in Health Science Clinical Educators” answers questions and defines moral injury and how it relates to burnout, and more specifically how both experiences affect physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who serve as clinical instructors.

Knowing the risk of harm associated with exercise can better inform safe dosing of exercise, clinical implementation, and replicability. Read the PTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal article.

Join Brian Gilbert, PT, MSPT, and Paul White, PhD, psychologist and co-author of the book “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace,” as they discuss the value of expressing appreciation in ways that tell employees and colleagues you really mean it.

As Congress attends to business in the last days before recess for the year, there are several important issues on the table, including a bill to address the fee schedule cuts, and legislation aimed at the PTA differential. Here’s a rundown of where things stand, and what you can do to help urge Congress to act.

Listen to PTJ’s author interview with Anneleen Malfliet on the why and how of integrating weight reduction with chronic pain management. https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/101/11/pzab198/6352462

Learn about the benefits of adding bicycling to your life, the challenges you may face, and how to overcome them.

PTJ talks with author Phoebe Simpson about biopsychosocial treatment for pain. https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/101/10/pzab188/6330890

The Core App by Hyperice is a mindfulness meditation app grounded in science and driven by data. It’s designed to help you find calm, improve focus, and flex your inner strength to seize the day without it ever seizing you. Learn how this app can help you.

A former ballet dancer sought a more meaningful career that still would keep her on her toes. By Geri Ann Sokell, PT, DPT, MEd.

PTJ talks about predicting low back pain improvement improvement. Read the article at https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/101/10/pzab176/6326850

APTA Fit for Practice, powered by Hyperice, is designed to help you recover, evolve, and remain resilient as we move forward into a postpandemic workplace. This episode provides a high-level overview of the initiative, what you can expect, and more.

Defining moments can come more than once, a move to America, the birth of a baby, starting a practice, and a being thrown a curveball.

APTA’s monthly advocacy and regulatory update has expanded to cover commercial payment issues! In this episode: how the commercial insurance industry is altering the course of telehealth for PTs and PTAs, the evolution of utilization management (and APTA’s impact on that evolution), and advice on addressing challenges with payers.

PTJ talks with Pamela Dunlap about fear-avoidance beliefs and how measurement of those beliefs can help clinicians identify people at a greater risk of disability after vestibular disorder. “We had hypothesized that fear-avoidance would be associated with symptom burden, function, quality of life, disability, and psychological distress,” Dunlap says, but until the development of the Vestibular Activities Avoidance Instrument, there was no measure. https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/101/9/pzab147/6297426

See the history of the physical therapy profession in a different light! Editor-in-Chief Alan Jette, PT, PhD, FAPTA, talks with David Nicholls, author of PTJ’s latest history essay and of the controversial 2017 book titled “The End of Physiotherapy.”

Have you ever stopped to think about your bias? In ways big and small, we all express bias, but it’s up to us to meet our bias with awareness, empathy, and with inclusivity in mind. In this discussion, we’ll talk about these themes and more with physical therapist and educator Brian Wilkinson, PT, DPT, who is a professor at Pacific University in Hillsboro, Oregon.

We’ve wrapped up a #FightTheCut virtual rally that brought together PTs, PTAs, and students from across the country to send a clear message to CMS about the flawed 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule it proposed. So where do things stand now? This podcast takes a post-rally look at where we are—and what needs to happen next.

Listen to this PTJ interview that discusses two recent essays on the history of physical therapy in the military, as well as important and insightful lessons on what can be learned from the military to empower the profession in civilian health care.

APTA’s monthly practice update covers multiple topics from the perspective of what’s happened, what’s hot right now, and what to keep an eye on in the future. In this episode: physical therapists in emergency care, learning center resources, COVID-19, and more.

A physical therapist known to two kids only as “the Exercise Lady” helped both them and their family in a time of need. Pat McAdoo, PT

PTJ Editor-in-Chief Alan Jette, PT, PhD, FAPTA, talks with Kathleen Mangione, PT, PhD, FAPTA, about something critically important to physical therapists but rarely top of mind: treatment fidelity.

Get updates on the proposed Medicare physician fee schedule, what we’re doing to #FightTheCut, and how you can help.

Change is difficult. Those words ring true for most, even for those who consider themselves “change agents,” but change doesn’t have to be negative or a struggle. That’s what we’ll talk about today with Stephanie Kostsuca, PT, DPT.https://www.apta.org/article/2021/03/03/walking-the-walk-of-a-change-agent

It wasn’t until she saw patients with the same rare condition that a PT realized what had been plaguing her own body for years.https://www.apta.org/apta-magazine/2021/08/01/apta-magazine-august-2021/a-lucky-patient-encounter-provides-answers

In June 2020, the American Physical Therapy Association House of Delegates issued a position statement, Support of Emergency Physical Therapist Practice. Despite physical therapists’ knowledge about symptoms and conditions affecting many patients presenting for emergency care, they are not always considered by hospital administrators to be essential to emergency department staffing. In this podcast, APTA members Rebekah Griffith, PT, DPT, Carleen Jogodka, PT, DPT, and Lisa TenBarge, PT, DPT, discuss the evolving role of the PT in the emergency department — and what that may look like going forward.

In a descriptive study that’s already been featured in 14 news stories, Mark Werneke, PT, and colleagues analyzed data on more than 222,000 patients in the Focus on Therapeutic Outcomes database. Werneke and Jette talk in depth about the relatively low use of telerehabilitation in the outpatient population studied.https://academic.oup.com/ptj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ptj/pzab110/6224412

The proposed 2022 Medicare fee schedule is here, and as expected, cuts and the PTA differential are moving forward. Kate Gilliard, APTA senior policy and regulatory affairs specialist, and Justin Elliott, APTA vice president of government affairs, provide an overview of both provisions, plus a look at CMS’ decisions around telehealth for PTs after the end of the public health emergency.

Director of Communications Lindsay Durand, PT, DPT, of APTA’s Student Assembly Board of Directors, Kelly Quigley, SPT, APTA Student Assembly centennial ambassador, and Gini Blodgett Birchett, MSLS, APTA’s senior information resources specialist, discuss our professional history and take questions from viewers.

This PT encourages others in the profession to expand the bounds of what PTs can be. https://www.apta.org/article/2021/06/10/no-one-way-to-be-a-pt

Every patient is a one in a million. By Kathleen Wild PT, DPT. https://www.apta.org/apta-magazine/2021/07/01/apta-magazine-july-2021/looking-for-the-zebras

In this APTA Live event, we will talk with members of the Cross-Academy/Section COVID-19 Core Outcome Measure Task Force about the physical therapy core outcome measures algorithms they developed — one for adults and one for children.

World Physiotherapy, previously known as the World Confederation for Physical Therapy, recently released a briefing paper and toolkit on safe and effective rehabilitation for individuals with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19. APTA member Rebecca Martin, PT, DPT, PhD, who represented APTA in authoring the briefing paper and the toolkit, answers questions about the PT’s role in … Continue reading Safe and Effective Rehabilitation for Long COVID

Dr Dias and his coauthors provide an antidote to the barriers that make it difficult to apply clinical practice guidelines to patients. “There are many inconsistencies in the examination and treatment…[for patients with] heart failure, [and] so often physical therapists have developed their own biases…based on their years of clinical experience,” which present challenges to changing practice based on new evidence. Dias et al wanted to provide an easy-to-use 5-step approach to improve care: “Let’s face it, it’s challenging…to read through 25 pages or more of dense content published in guidelines.” In this interview with Editor-in-Chief Alan Jette, Dr Dias shares his passion for this patient population and practical frameworks at point of care. Dr Dias is coauthor of “A Knowledge Translation Framework for Optimizing Physical Therapy in Patients With Heart Failure.”https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzab079

Dr. Jette and the author discuss a range of issues, from the relationship and professional boundaries between physical therapists and dieticians, to practical recommendations for identifying and understanding the behaviors, socioeconomic determinants, and environmental factors that can affect access to proper nutrition. Dr. Berner is coauthor of “Nutrition in Physical Therapist Practice: Setting the Stage … Continue reading Integration of Nutrition in Physical Therapist Practice: An Author Interview with Dr. Patrick Berner

APTA’s monthly advocacy and regulatory update covers multiple topics from the perspective of what’s happened, what’s hot right now, and what to keep an eye on in the future. In this episode: lawmakers focus on the PTA differential, a big telehealth win, a bill to relieve administrative burden in Medicare Advantage, and more.

A PT reflects on opening a clinic in an underserved neighborhood. https://www.apta.org/apta-magazine/2021/06/01/apta-magazine-june-2021/i-see-me-in-you

A mindful pause allows us to reflect and make conscious decisions that spark transformation and help us promote our emotional well-being. Podcast with Monica Jain, PT, DPT. Read the article at https://www.apta.org/article/2021/05/24/mindfulness-just-what-the-pt-ordered

A recent large-scale study of postacute care sponsored by APTA and AOTA has the potential to change the conversation on payment in these settings. This podcast takes a closer look at the TOPS study findings with Jason Falvey, PT, DPT, PhD, who served as an advisor on the study’s methodology and analysis.

This May installment of APTA’s monthly advocacy and regulatory roundup focuses on SNF and IRF rules, a sequestration win, telehealth, and more.