In one sentence, physical therapists optimize function and movement to its maximum potential, before and or after an injury.

We are a Doctoral profession that undergoes 3 intense years of graduate school, followed by continuing education to understand how to help the body properly heal itself. We do this to become the number 1 doctor patients run to when pain is keeping them from doing what they love to do. Let’s face it: unless it’s a traumatic emergency situation, pain will not drive you to see any doctor. Pain is always present, but when pain becomes a roadblock to your favorite activities, that is when you will seek out help. Physical therapists are the best doctors around for those musculoskeletal problems.

Physical therapy is an extensive field which I like comparing to martial arts. Fighting is fighting, however martial arts is a specific type of combat, and within martial arts there are different subsets and specialties such as karate, jiu...

“A commitment to service, a desire to add value, and a love of teaching” – according to Gary Vaynerchuk, in his new book, Crushing It, these are three characteristics that today’s greatest entrepreneurs and influencers share. However, I believe these traits not only apply to great entrepreneurs but should also be applied to us as future physical therapists, business owners, and healthcare professionals. As Pre-PTs, it is our duty to develop and live out these characteristics on a daily basis, not just for ourselves, but for our future patients. Personally, coaching basketball has allowed me to practice these core values. It gave me the opportunity to practice and enhance many skills necessary as a future physical therapist. 

1. A Commitment to Service

Coach: One of the biggest lessons I learned as a coach is that the most important pre-requisite for leadership is a commitment to serve. As a coach, service boils down to two...

As I look back on my pre-physical therapy journey that began in three years ago, I realized that many big decisions had to occur to get where I am today as a second year PT student. Most those decisions resulted in early action in which a simple thought or an idea lead to a plan of steps that were implemented into some sort of action plan that favored “premature” activity instead of “on-time” activity. As a mentor to Pre-PT students, I have always emphasize the importance of being early in anything they do. An important saying that one of my mentors, Greg, also says is that “speed wins”. No matter what task you have at hand, you are already winning if you have an early head start than your peers.

1. Make the Leap to Apply Early

One major “speed wins” decision that I am glad I took early action on was applying early to physical therapy school, specifically early decision.  During the beginning of my junior year of undergrad, I...

“Beep! Beep! Beep!” The day starts as early as 4:30 in morning. First thing I do is take a sip of coffee and check my agenda to see what I wrote from the night before. I use my agenda as my “playbook” and follow through with the plays to score or defend the best I know how. By holding myself accountable, I am able to finish everything I wrote down. I see that I have my chemistry test at 8:30am, lower extremity assessment quiz at 10am, and from 11:00-11:45am, I will be preparing for a upper extremity assessment practical. I know I’m ready for all of them because I have prepared myself for any and all questions that the professor asks about the covered content. Oh- and I have a therapeutic modality quiz the next day.

Scanning my agenda again, I see I have a meeting for the Kinesiology club at noon. I go over the PowerPoint that will be presented and revise if needed.  I add that I will talk to the club about volunteer opportunities in...

"Who are we to think we deserve something for nothing?"

There are 365 pages in the book of life that we have every year. Every day is a new page and every month is a new chapter for us to read and analyze. It’s both selfish and foolish to think that every day is a guarantee because it’s not. We sometimes go about every day with the same mundane routine and we tend to just go through the motions. We generally want much more from life than we are even willing to invest in it. Who are we to think we deserve something for nothing? Let’s not kid ourselves and let’s not be naïve! We get what we put in, in certain areas such as: relationships, work, fitness, finances. Yet, people often are ignorant to what they have until it’s gone. You never see the opportunities or blessings until doors are closed or blessings are stripped away from you. Hopefully, I haven’t lost you by now with what I’m saying, and if I have, I’ll assume that the...

"It’s all part of the process."

Ah… the rejection letter. Tough luck, right? Welcome to the biggest reality check! This is the toughest real-world experience to go through and perhaps your biggest fear as a Pre-PT student. Kudos to you if you do not have to face this, especially the pile of rejection letters racking up to the point where you need to re-apply during a future application cycle in order to continue the journey. One of the greatest challenges with applying is that you have to believe in yourself to superb levels and put out the best “you” to demonstrate why you are a good fit for the programs you apply to yet… you need to develop the psychological and emotional tenacity in order to allow for the admissions committees to make their decisions even if it does not include you… yet. So… how do you proceed as a naive, young, bright-eyed applicant? How do you avoid doubting yourself so that DPT Programs have the utmost time...

When I walked into my first physical therapy clinic as a volunteer, I was extremely excited and very nervous. I couldn’t wait to see what my future would look like as a physical therapist. Unfortunately, not even an hour into my shift, my excitement completely faded away. After that hour, I concluded that physical therapy was a useless profession. Throughout the day, I saw patients come in, meet with the PT for 10-20 minutes, and get setup on ice/heat for the remainder of their treatment session. After a week of volunteering at that clinic, I decided to consider a different career path. The words that helped steer me away from physical therapy, came from none other than a PT at that location. I will never forget the day when the physical therapist came up to me and said “I don’t think PT is the right career for you. Maybe you should consider being a nurse.”

Four years later, after that experience, I surprisingly just finished my first semester in DPT school,...

A lot of hard work goes into applying to physical therapy school. You take several prerequisite courses, complete dozens or hundreds of shadowing hours, figure out PTCAS, and write a killer essay. But besides having a stellar application, it’s important to apply to the right schools. Knowing where to apply can be just as important as the application itself because ultimately you’re deciding where you will spend the next three years of your life. Here are some factors to keep in mind while you’re deciding where to apply:

1. Cost. This can vary widely from state to state and from public to private schools. Look into loans and scholarships, and think about how these things might affect you in the years to come, both while you’re in school and after you graduate. This could mean the difference between paying back loans for only a few years or for the next 30 years.

2. Location. It’s not just important in the restaurant business. Where do you want...

As I thought about what I wanted my first blog post to be about for you guys, it hit me- why not write about what changes I plan on making in 2018 to make it a winning year. This isn’t a “New year, new me” post, I don’t believe in that. There is nothing wrong with who YOU are so there doesn’t need to be a NEW you! Just improve, become better with the you that you are. What I mean by this is accept who you are, be comfortable in your own skin and just continue to grow.

Okay, now that I got that little disclaimer out, here is what this post is about. The second year of PT school has been rough I won’t lie. My time management skills sucked, I overcommitted to a lot of things, I was disorganized, didn’t work out, stressed, procrastinated and let my anxiety get the best of me. I really didn’t want it to go down that way, but it happens, it was a learning curve for me. It was a whole new level of graduate school compared to the first year,...

       I hope that your Thanksgiving holiday was as much of a blessing as it was for me! I would like to share with you a brief Pre-PT and Life lesson I learned from a Black Friday chat with a Best Buy Employee just hours after the food was settling in. As I was waiting to be checked out, I got into a casual conversation with an employee that soon turned to a deep discussion about life and success.

       He went on to tell me how he blew an amazing opportunity while playing college football as a wide receiver. It was the kind of opportunity that would have likely ended with him going pro. However, a few mistakes completely altered his trajectory. During his first year of college, he did not take his academics seriously, and this led to him losing a major scholarship as well as an opportunity to play professionally. Following that, he spent some time in the military where he learned the power of habits. He said, "Joses, there is nothing...