It's hard for me to believe it has been four years since I graduated PT school. I remember working as a student with physical therapists who had been practicing for four or five years and looking at them as a source of information and experience. Now that I'm on the other side of that spectrum, I still feel like I'm learning every day. As the ...

An interesting article came out in the British popular press last week that states some chronic low-back pain can be cured by antibiotics. The writing is fairly clear that only certain cases would benefit from this approach and it includes links to the two scientific abstracts the article is based on: ...

I completed the first full week of my six-month clinical affiliation, and things are off to a tremendous start. This past week, I was assigned two patients of my very own who I'll likely see throughout their course of care on the inpatient rehab unit. It might not sound very monumental; however this is the first time that a patient has been ...

My newest thought project for this week is to better understand how physical therapist staffing is predicted for a new clinic. How does a new healthcare company or private practice facility estimate what kind of staffing it will need in a new location? My general understanding of private practice is that due to limited funds, staffing will start ...

I've spoken to patients from many countries and places around the globe. Sometimes it's like watching the movie Billy Elliot or trying to understand the lyrics of South African rap-rave crew Die Antwoord. I'm aghast, did they just curse? I wouldn't know because they speak so fast my mind can't keep up. It sounded like a curse word but there was an ...

I learned this expression while working in England. It was a way of getting to the core of something, often a product, to determine the original intent and whether it was accomplished. I wonder that about continuing education requirements. Florida has had them (12 hours/year) since I've been practicing (a long time) while New York has only ...

A short break between semesters has proven to come at the best time for me. Today brings with it a major change in my facility, where one department is becoming two. Employees have been preparing for months for this change, with hopes that everything goes smoothly. In a large department where things don't always go smoothly on a regular day, we ...

So I'm back in the US about six months now and I've got a massive amount of continuing education to do. Before anyone starts wagging fingers about ''serves you right'' or anything else that sounds like your mother scolding, I had to do lots of CPD (continuous professional development) in the UK... none of it counts here. The UK accepts everything ...

If someone had told me on November 13, 2007, that I was signing up for 66 consecutive months of blogging, I would have said, ''There's no way!'' But, 284 posts later, here we are. One post at a time, you've invited me into your work and home. You've shared your life through comments. It's been a wonderful five-and-a-half years. That makes it more ...

Registration for the final two courses has taken place. Mental, physical and emotional preparation is next on my agenda. Although I have a pretty good idea about what my case report will be, I often question myself and my ability to develop a doctoral-level document capable of being published. The exhaustive literature search has been literally ...