Phil Tygiel has been a business owner, two-time President of the Arizona Physical Therapy Association, and has been recognized numerous times nationally for his service, including being named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the APTA. In this interview, we talk a little about how you can be involved in service. Phil was both a clinical practice ow…

For our podcast's finale, Seth Peterson interviews the authors of the book "Movers and Mentors" Bryan Guzski and Tim Reynolds. Bryan and Tim set out on a very similar journey to this podcast during the preparation of their book a few years ago. What did they find? How do the themes from their book relate to the themes from this podcast? Instead of …

No matter what area of physical therapy you have focused - clinical practice, research, private practice, leadership, or academia - you've probably heard of Tim Flynn. That's because Tim Flynn, PT, PhD, OCS, FAAOMPT, FAPTA has touched all of those areas of practice - and done so at a high level - something that is extremely rare. He is probably bes…

When asked by one of the members of UC Davis' Pain Fellowship what makes him different as a clinician, Tim McGonigle, PT, FAAOMPT replied, "I listen with my heart." Tim grew up with a stutter and later began practicing meditation, which he thinks may have helped him develop an ability to be present with the patient, develop greater compassion, and …

This is the recap of our 3-part "Communication Series" that went live on our Facebook group Mindful Clinicians. In this short recap, Seth recaps some of the key themes in communication, brings in key quotes from all of the interviewees (John Woolf, PT, PhD(c), ATC, COMT, Matt Erb, PT, and Maxi Miciak, PT, PhD), and suggests how being more mindful i…

We are wrapping up our communication series with Maxi Miciak, PhD. Maxi Miciak is a rockstar physiotherapist in the therapeutic alliance space. Maxi is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta. She received a doctorate in Rehabilitation Science (2015) from the University of Alberta and was the …

Mike Roger's story is unlike anything else we've have on the podcast. During his time in physical therapy, Mike traveled to London to spend time with James Cyriax, taught with John Mennell, took two programs in Norway, started one of the country's first residency programs, and was a founding fellow of AAOMPT. Then, he left physical therapy altogeth…

This is the 2nd in a 3-part "Communication Series." This interview was with Matt Erb, PT, Associate Clinical Director for The Center for Mind-Body Medicine and owner of Embody Your Mind. In the interview, Matt will provide some of his thoughts in communicating around some difficult topics (trauma, etc) as well as how to cultivate humility and wisdo…

This is Part I of a live interview I did with John Woolf in our group "Mindful Clinicians." I apologize for the audio, which was a little rough on my end, especially in the first half of the interview. In this Communication Series, the goal is to help guide clinicians to more effective ways of thinking about and relating to patients. One of the thi…

If you didn't listen to Part I of my interview with Eileen, go back and listen to that. In this part of the interview, Eileen talks about her travels to Norway, what she did when she returns, and how she ended up starting the first residency program in physical therapy while still in her twenties. Eileen talks about what she does now, which might b…

In her early twenties, Eileen Vollowitz would end up teaching at Maggie Knott's program in Vallejo and by her late twenties, she would start the first residency program in physical therapy. In Part I of my interview with Eileen, she tells us how all of that almost never happened. After the end of the first season, I had multiple people reach out ur…

Lynda Woodruff, PT, PhD spent her life breaking barriers and challenging the status quo. This podcast is unique in several ways. For one, our podcast has focused on clinicians and this is the first we've done on someone who spent the majority of their career in academia. But I think you'll agree, Lynda's story is too good not to be told. At 13, she…

For the last episode, we're compiling some of the common themes about the future - both concerns and hopes - discussed by some of the leaders we interviewed. It's clear that we've come a long way 100 years since the beginning of physical therapy in the United States, but it's also clear that there are some major challenges looming ahead. __________…

In this second of a three-part recap of the interviews this season, Seth Peterson reviews some of our guests' recommendations for clinical practice. ______ Continue the discussion in our Facebook group, Mindful Clinicians.By The Movement Brainery

We're at the end of these interviews and it's time to reflect on some of the lessons learned from the trailblazers and leaders interviewed so far. This will be the first in a series of brief episodes reflecting on the season, which will be called "Short Reflections." For the first of these episodes, the focus will be on personal growth. Our intervi…

This episode is a recording from a live event we had in our group, Mindful Clinicians. Gregg Johnson is the co-founder of the Institute of Physical Art, a continuing education company that has been teaching around 100 courses across the country a year for decades. If that sounds familiar, it's because Gregg's wife Vicky was on our podcast in Episod…

In the field of physical therapy, Stanley Paris PT, PhD, FAPTA is a living legend. There's no one better to be interviewed for our penultimate episode. In fact, many of the guests on this podcast traced their inspiration back to Stanley. The impact he has had on physical therapy - from teaching across the country, normalizing manipulation, starting…

On his way to try and walk on at the University of Oklahoma, 1.5 hours south of Folsom, CA, Michael realized it was the furthest away from home he had ever been in his life. Michael eventually succeeded and made the teams in football and wrestling at the Division I program. Not having confidence in his science aptitude, Michael initially planned to…

When Joe Farrell, PT, M App Sci, DPT, FAAOMPT, FAPTA graduated from physical therapy school, residency programs in the United States didn't exist. So, motivated by a physical therapist he learned from early in practice, Joe set off to learn in Australia - where he would stay for 2 years. Soon after returning, Joe would be recruited to the Kaiser Or…

Growing up in a suburb of St. Louis, Shirley was expected to never give up. When she decided that she wanted to go to physical therapy school at Washington University, she persisted. Later, Shirley would not give up when faced with challenging questions about neurological patients in the clinic. This would lead her into a PhD program and eventually…

Growing up in Adelaide in South Australia, Margaret Anderson worked in various other jobs before ending up in physical therapy school. Right away, she noticed that she couldn't quite get the outcomes as higher-levels physical therapists and ended up seeking those skills in Geoff Maitland's program. As she says herself, she struggled more with the c…

Growing up in a rural town in California, Dennis Morgan, PT, DC always saw himself as an "average guy" that had to work harder just to keep up. His efforts to do so sent him across the world, spending time with some of the legends of physical therapy: Maggie Knott, Freddie Kaltenborn, and Olaf Evjenth. The primary lesson he learned from these indiv…

When you think about the development of orthopedic physical therapy in the United States, and our movement toward residency and fellowship training, you're thinking about the work of Barb Stevens. While attending a conference in Vail, Colorado, Barb saw Geoff Maitland treating a patient - and it prompted her to move across the country to begin trai…

Growing up in Alabama, John always saw himself as an achiever. His dream to become a doctor, however, came crashing down when he didn't get accepted into medical school. John instead found himself traveling to Texas, where he would begin school to become a physical therapist. Just 18 years after graduating, John would become the youngest physical t…

In the middle of an existential crisis, with her parents halfway around the world, Vicky Johnson, PT, FFMT, FAAOMPT stumbled upon a physical therapy program in the back of a magazine and applied. As luck would have it, this program in Georgia happened to have rare access to a woman in high demand: Maggie Knott. One of the early architects of PNF, M…

The story of Mary McMillan is perhaps the greatest of any physical therapist you will hear. Mary was the first Reconstruction Aide sworn into the U.S. Army and the first President of the APTA (back when it had another name). She served in two world wars, became the world's first international physical therapist, and was a prisoner in an internment …

When he graduated physical therapy school, Tim Fearon DPT, FAAOMPT felt lost in his new profession. He was able to memorize his way through school, but found himself ill-equipped to handle the complex patients he encountered in clinical practice. Frustrated and confused, Tim's chance encounter with a few clinicians showed him that the problem was n…