Direct to Employer (D2E) services are heralding a new era in physical therapy. With the growing interest towards D2E, physical therapists are moving closer to becoming first-contact providers for neuromusculoskeletal (NMSK) services for workers. Embracing the D2E model of physical therapy delivery could be the strategic career move you need to reignite your passion and truly practice physical therapy at the highest level of your expertise.

Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America with participation up 171% in 2023 according to a report by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. Both the cost and physical barriers to entry are low. With increased participation comes increased injuries and physical therapists need to understand the game and associated injuries.

Let’s discuss how patient education impacts our measured outcomes and patient satisfaction. More specifically, how it can have an impact on their personal health literacy and self-efficacy. In my opinion these are two huge barriers to our success with improving our measured value.

Physical therapists are experts. Physical therapists also are dedicated health professionals who desire desperately to help their patients. This combination results in the inevitable expert/recipient role where professionals feel obligated to “fix” patient problems. Unfortunately, lasting behavior change must come from within the individual. 

I like lists--my to-do list, my bucket list, my wish list--to name a few. Years ago, I committed to memory a list of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People authored by Stephen R. Covey. Habit number 2 is probably the one that I silently repeat most frequently, “Begin with the end in mind.” This “Habit” can be applied to many projects or initiatives but let’s talk about the rehab process of a person with restricted ability to work following injury or illness.

As a refresher, let's review the 6 basic components of lifestyle medicine according to the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM). Lifestyle medicine includes the following components:

• Nutrition
• Physical activity
• ...

The initial interview provides most of the information needed to help guide clinical practice. However, sometimes it can be a challenge to extract the necessary information that is meaningful and pertinent to respective clinical presentations. We need to analyze these strategies, as they can be useful to help direct clinical reasoning throughout the episode of care. These approaches should remember to be person-focused, as healthcare is truly individualized. Therefore, we should further explore which strategies would be the most beneficial to generate positive outcomes.

As a second-year student attending a professional event, I had just sat through a presentation that was, for lack of a better term, Greek to me. The intricacies of the topic had me lost in a maze of jargon and complex diagrams. Yet, mere hours after that presentation, I found myself engrossed in a conversation with the speaker at the event happy hour. The difference? Fifteen minutes of a genuine conversation illuminated what a two-hour presentation could not.

In an age dominated by digital communication, there's an ever-present need for professionals to share their expertise. For physical therapists, this need is especially critical. While the thought of returning to academia for a communications degree may be daunting, it's not the only route.

Person-centered pain management has been the center of recent literature emphasizing the complex and individualized nature of pain. While previous models in pain management emphasized treatment of the ‘average’ patient (ie, patient with non-specific low back pain), person-centered models put the patients’ beliefs, expectations, and goals at the center of the treatment plan. Clinicians who wish to practice evidence-based pain care should update their understanding of how and why person-centered care models should be the gold standard.