r/physicaltherapy

I have a patient who is 12 weeks out from radial head replacement and LCL repair but I feel like we have hit a wall with ROM. She is stuck at ~20 extension lag. If I really crank I can maybe get 15 but I don’t see the point to cause her severe pain for such a short term improvement in ROM. Elbow extension over pressure just leads to compensation at the shoulder so it’s hard to stabilize

Is there something I’m missing? Is it just a slow heal? Im doing prox and distal radioulnar mobs, humeroulnar mobs, bicep x-friction, tricep strengthening, low load long duration stretching at start and end of session with moist heat pulleys.

I’ve educated on her need to stretch throughout the day while at home and I think she realized the importance a bit too late at the last surgeon follow up when they were telling her she should be farther along.

Halp pls

As an aspiring Physical Therapist it’s really disappointing the amount of money PTs make. As someone who’s going to school doing Pre Reqs and prepping for GRE and applications. My fiancé and I are both going in the field. I love what I do, but money plays a factor down the line, and if i’m going to school for 7-8 for this I feel like PTs as a whole should be making more. My uncle got in a car accident last year and went to physical therapy. For 12 visits he paid $300 out of pocket and insurance payed $700, while he told me the cost normally without insurance was $3300, essentially $2300 in dead money. That specific clinic closed about a month later. It’s just insane how big of a scam insurance is to the healthcare industry. So as a student right now why don’t Physical Therapists fight and strike for better pay? I just want a better understanding I am not trying to bash on the profession or offend anyone I am just curious.

Edit: I am an Aide right now, don’t mean to offend people, genuinely just curious. No plans on changing my career, don’t mean to sound like I know what i’m talking about when I say “I love what i do” 😭

Long story made short: I’ve been in the field for 16 years and have never gone any amount of time without working . I was hospitalized due to mental health issues twice and had to leave my job because there was no FMLA for me because of not being employed at that agency for a year (8 months). I’m currently home and admitted to an intensive outpatient program to work on my issues over the next 6 weeks.

At this point, I know I need to move forward and work on myself, but I’m concerned that the gap in my employment will hinder me from getting employed again.

I am a full time staff PT working in hospital based outpatient setting. I was reached out by encomass health for rehab liason role FT and per diem both available. They are giving gas reimbursement and also salary is 85-90k with one weekend on call after 4-5 weeks. I am seeing 15 patients in a 8 hour day and see no growth in clinic due to politics and toxic supervisor however I wanna make sure if pivot is worth it?I am genuinely confused by the reviews online and would really appreciate some insight who os already working at encompass health as rehab liason.

Like the title says, Im trying to decide whether PT school or another job field (like nursing or PA) is right for me. I currently have a bachelors in athletic training and work as an Athletic trainer at a secondary school. I’m 24 years old. I did also graduate with undergrad loans (both federal and private).

I know PT school is expensive and the pay is not insane starting out and maxing out. However it’s about the closest thing to the job I currently have. Looking to make more money and have better hours than I currently have. I’m also worried about going into more debt as well. Any advice would be great. Thanks!

Any Chicago PTs here? Curious to know what setting and how many patients you see!

Working in a more rural setting, outpatient joint replacements are only now becoming more commonplace. How have you all felt with the patient response to therapy at home, or in the clinic afterwards?

Hey all,

I am looking for something similar to the Tindeq dynamometer to measure strength symmetry between limbs for my post-op patients. I work for a hospital-based OP clinic and they are confined to ordering equipment through distributors like performance health, Medline, etc. I’d rather not get a dynamometer where I have to push and hold it myself bc I am looking to test quad/hamstring strength primarily.

Thanks in advance!!

I do PTA work PRN at a SNF but I was told that I am not allowed to count minutes in NetHealth if I am reviewing a patient chart I never even seen before. So in other words if I don’t count that review time then it kills my productivity. This seems so lame if you ask me. What do they want you to do, walk in and go straighten to the patient’s room without seeing what even is wrong with them?

The identity crisis of physical therapy is a serious one. As student debt begins to rise, thousands and thousands of DPTs question why they are forced to receive a doctorate-level education to achieve the same stagnant wage of decades ago. Thus, some students may be interested in getting their DPT online from home without paying rent to live at school. Hybrid programs, however, while convenient and occasionally (not often) more cost effective than residential programs, are a bad direction for the DPT to go in.

This is with no malice to anyone with a hybrid DPT. Gotta do what you gotta do. I get it.

If we want to be treated like a serious healthcare profession, we cannot allow programs to administer online MBA-style programs (that often still cost the same as in-person learning) that omit regular labs in favor of week-long cram sessions to satisfy the APTA regulations. This is not how people learn best. There is no educational psychologist who would claim this is a particularly effective way to learn and retain information.

On one hand, some DPT programs are housed within university medical schools, placing DPT education at the same priority level as their MD flagship programs. On the other hand, some schools advertise their accelerated virtual program and minimal in-person requirements. To state that online PT school is the same thing as learning hands-on every single day is just untrue. These hybrid programs are often ways to boost enrollment and gain extra cash for nearly zero classroom overhead. Schools that offer hybrid locations often have 3+ campuses, for-profit campus structure, and even CHIRO programs (Pitt).

For better or for worse, the PT barrier-to-entry will not drop below a doctorate. Since this is the case, we need to make the best possible advocacy case for insurance and government-funded healthcare plans to place PT compensation at higher priority. We do not do this by changing the format to COVID Zoom school.

I understand there are financial pressures. Again, I am not stating that hybrid DPT students did a bad thing. There are excellent DPTs who got their degree in a hybrid setting. However, more often than not, hybrid DPTs are not any cheaper than their in-person counterparts. No medical school advertises how quickly they get students out the door. When programs boast their "2-year, online, accelerated, etc." programs, it indicates that we are treating DPT school like a lower priority.

Just my two cents. This post was written in no part with generative AI.

What. The fuck. Are we doing?

First rotation, in a hospital doing acute care, mix of floor, medsurg and a good bit in the ICU, early mobilization post vent, stroke, etc…

Im 4 weeks in out of 8, and I really do like acute care, but I feel like I just keep dropping the ball. Its the little things too, like line management in the ICU (which is way more difficult than what they teach in school with 1-3 lines all on the same side with a mobile patient), easy questions where I just blank, don’t feel like I’m making good clinical judgement decisions. My documentation is great and is probably my stongest point. Im getting better at simple patients, but complex I lack, especially co-treating with OT and being assertive, tailoring subjective or objective with complex stroke or total/maxA, etc

Is this normal? Am I just overthinking? It sucks because I really do enjoy acute care versus OP, but I feel as if I’m not where I should be, even though I know the things in my head.

Trying to get a feel for general opinions- I’ve never been in an office that had PTAs so I don’t know how they integrate into day to day care.
What are the pros and cons of having PTAs on staff? Does this vary in different settings? Wondering what everyone’s thoughts are.

Whenever I discuss moving from Australia to the United States, people reduce the decision to one sentence:

“Australia gives you a life. America gives you money.”

My experience is more complicated.

The US roles I explored offered higher compensation but varied widely. Some had four-day schedules, flexible shifts, travel assignments, or lower caseloads. Others had demanding productivity targets and limited leave.

My decision came down to the complete package:

* Net savings

* Working hours

* Documentation burden

* Caseload

* Specialty opportunities

* Immigration pathway

* Proximity to family

* Long-term earning potential

* Ability to change employers

* Personal definition of stability

A career decision should not be based on a Facebook post with two flags and a salary conversion.

I asked Claude to see what it would say, but what would you say?

When I was in school I said someone who cares deeply and has compassion

them a few ​years ago I would say someone that works with you. one-on-one.

Now I just want someone who can get results. I don't care who they are!

Hi all, my wife is an outpatient PT but we are trying to see if we can move towards building our own HH virtual PT hybrid focused on pelvic floor. She is licensed PT here in Texas, she does not have a DPT, but upon research, she can still do direct access. My question, has anyone done this, done direct access without a DPT? Preferably cash based, if we don't need to deal with insurances, software for progress notes, etc.

We've researched on the paperwork, and for me, that's the easy part as those can and will come, but I have no clue on how to get patients without going to Doctor's office and getting yourself marketed. ChatGPT's advice was to start to put yourself on maps, and build out a website with your services and specialties. Do we even have a chance of pulling this off?

Thank you guys in advance.

Question! We’ve always been able to manage oxygen tanks in SNF world in FL and now I’m at a new SNF and they say it’s a new Florida law that it has been deemed a medication and we cannot manage it, only nurses. Does anyone know if this is true and have the bill or article that states so?