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        • Gaenslen Test
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        • Supine to Long Sit Test
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        • External Rotation Lag Sign
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        • Internal Rotation Lag Sign
        • Jobe Test
        • Ludington's Test
        • Neer Test
        • Painful Arc Sign
        • Pronated Load Test
        • Resisted Supination External Rotation Test
        • Speed's Test
        • Posterior Apprehension
        • Sulcus Sign
        • Thoracic Outlet Tests >
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          • Costoclavicular Brace
          • Hyperabduction Test
          • Roos (EAST)
        • Yergason's Test
      • Elbow >
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        • Chair Sign
        • Cozen's Test
        • Elbow Extension Test
        • Medial Epicondylalgia Test
        • Mill's Test
        • Moving Valgus Stress Test
        • Push-up Sign
        • Ulnar Nerve Compression Test
        • Valgus Stress Test
        • Varus Stress Test
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        • Carpal Compression Test
        • Finkelstein Test
        • Phalen's Test
        • Reverse Phalen's Test
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        • Dial Test
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        • Fitzgerald's Test
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        • Labral Posterior Impingement Test
        • Long-Axis Femoral Distraction Test
        • Noble Compression Test
        • Percussion Test
        • Sign of the Buttock
        • Trendelenburg Test
      • Knee >
        • Anterior Drawer Test
        • Dial Test (Tibial Rotation Test)
        • Joint Line Tenderness
        • Lachman Test
        • McMurray Test
        • Noble Compression Test
        • Pivot-Shift Test
        • Posterior Drawer Test
        • Posterior Sag Sign
        • Quad Active Test
        • Thessaly Test
        • Valgus Stress Test
        • Varus Stress Test
      • Foot/Ankle >
        • Anterior Drawer
        • Calf Squeeze Test
        • External Rotation Test
        • Fracture Screening Tests
        • Impingement Sign
        • Navicular Drop Test
        • Squeeze Test
        • Talar Tilt
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        • Test for Interdigital Neuroma
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Why I Choose to Specialize

10/24/2014

0 Comments

 
I was recently having a conversation with a few friends from my undergraduate schooling who all hold business degrees. I was telling them about physical therapy education- how I recently completed a residency program and how the program has helped prepare me to become an orthopedic specialist. As businessmen, the topic of money was quickly brought to the conversation. They understood I made less money last year as a resident, but assumed it would be for greater financial gain the year after. As therapists know, this is usually not the case. Being an OCS or fellow does not guarantee an increase in salary. They were dumbfounded that I would still choose to pursue specialization without the financial gain. So why do I specialize?

I choose to specialize because it will make me a more intelligent, intuitive clinician. More knowledge leads to more informed clinical decisions, clinical efficiency, and ultimately better patient outcomes. As one faculty member at the Harris Health System said, "all therapists can arrive at a diagnosis, but your residency training will help you arrive at the diagnosis much faster." The knowledge gained during my residency was unparalleled. The number of one on one mentorship hours received in one year is not attainable by many companies. I seek this knowledge because there are people living in pain that I can treat if I have the proper knowledge.

I choose to specialize because I have the potential to change the profession of physical therapy. Our profession has so much potential in the present moment. We are on the horizon of taking over preventative medicine and becoming completely autonomous, direct access practitioners. It is easy to stop studying after physical therapy school and rest on a generalized education. It is easy to be uninvolved in our national organization. It is much more difficult to spend hours each week studying and collaborating with peers on ideas to better the profession.  We will not get there by continuing to play the role of technician, but rather by defining ourselves as diagnosticians. 

I choose to specialize because of the innate satisfaction of helping another. There is an indescribable satisfaction in decreasing someone's pain and empowering them to control their pain independently. 
Eliminating someone's pain creates a special connection with that individual that lasts for years. Physical therapists, OTs, and SLPs are the only professions that spends 45+ minutes with their clients. This creates so much opportunity for education and change. I choose to specialize to ensure I am making those 45+ minutes as beneficial as possible. I know I would not be able to successfully treat so many people without my residency training. No, I am not going to immediately make more money, but I am going to change many peoples lives. This brings more happiness than the temporary joy of a paycheck. 

For those of you who cannot afford to spend one to three years doing residency, fellowship, or advanced certification training, I challenge you to think about that commitment as a long term investment. Maybe you will not make more money immediately, but you can use a specialization to market yourself for future opportunities. An advanced degree can be the difference between becoming a clinic director vs. staff therapist. It can be used as a marketing tool to draw patients to your clinic.     

Unfortunately at this point, physical therapy specialists are not appropriately compensated. Insurance companies value quantity over quality and therefore clinics cannot afford to pay for quality either. We can shift this paradigm by continuing to practice the highest quality care and continuing to pursue specializations. I want to conclude with a great quote from Earl Nightingale which reads, "the opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity." Are you conforming to being an average practitioner or are you currently pursuing something beyond the 9-5 work hours? 
"What greater wealth is there than to own your life and spend it on growing." Do something for yourself, for your profession, and for your patients.  

Why do you specialize? 

-Jim Heafner 


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  • Home
  • About Us
  • Insider Access
    • About Insider Access
  • Online Courses
    • Hooper's Knee
    • Physical Therapist Entrepreneur Course
    • Physical Therapist Consultant Course
    • Orthopedic Management of the Cervical Spine
    • Return to Sport Essentials Course
  • Resources
    • Newsletter
    • Business Minded Sports Physio Podcast
    • Day in the Life of a Sports PT
    • Residency Corner
    • Special Tests >
      • Cervical Spine >
        • Alar Ligament Test
        • Bakody's Sign
        • Cervical Distraction Test
        • Cervical Rotation Lateral Flexion Test
        • Craniocervical Flexion Test (CCFT)
        • Deep Neck Flexor Endurance Test
        • Posterior-Anterior Segmental Mobility
        • Segmental Mobility
        • Sharp-Purser Test
        • Spurling's Maneuver
        • Transverse Ligament Test
        • ULNT - Median
        • ULNT - Radial
        • ULNT - Ulnar
        • Vertebral Artery Test
      • Thoracic Spine >
        • Adam's Forward Bend Test
        • Passive Neck Flexion Test
        • Thoracic Compression Test
        • Thoracic Distraction Test
        • Thoracic Foraminal Closure Test
      • Lumbar Spine/Sacroiliac Joint >
        • Active Sit-Up Test
        • Alternate Gillet Test
        • Crossed Straight Leg Raise Test
        • Extensor Endurance Test
        • FABER Test
        • Fortin's Sign
        • Gaenslen Test
        • Gillet Test
        • Gower's Sign
        • Lumbar Quadrant Test
        • POSH Test
        • Posteroanterior Mobility
        • Prone Knee Bend Test
        • Prone Instability Test
        • Resisted Abduction Test
        • Sacral Clearing Test
        • Seated Forward Flexion Test
        • SIJ Compression/Distraction Test
        • Slump Test
        • Sphinx Test
        • Spine Rotators & Multifidus Test
        • Squish Test
        • Standing Forward Flexion Test
        • Straight Leg Raise Test
        • Supine to Long Sit Test
      • Shoulder >
        • Active Compression Test
        • Anterior Apprehension
        • Biceps Load Test II
        • Drop Arm Sign
        • External Rotation Lag Sign
        • Hawkins-Kennedy Impingement Sign
        • Horizontal Adduction Test
        • Internal Rotation Lag Sign
        • Jobe Test
        • Ludington's Test
        • Neer Test
        • Painful Arc Sign
        • Pronated Load Test
        • Resisted Supination External Rotation Test
        • Speed's Test
        • Posterior Apprehension
        • Sulcus Sign
        • Thoracic Outlet Tests >
          • Adson's Test
          • Costoclavicular Brace
          • Hyperabduction Test
          • Roos (EAST)
        • Yergason's Test
      • Elbow >
        • Biceps Squeeze Test
        • Chair Sign
        • Cozen's Test
        • Elbow Extension Test
        • Medial Epicondylalgia Test
        • Mill's Test
        • Moving Valgus Stress Test
        • Push-up Sign
        • Ulnar Nerve Compression Test
        • Valgus Stress Test
        • Varus Stress Test
      • Wrist/Hand >
        • Allen's Test
        • Carpal Compression Test
        • Finkelstein Test
        • Phalen's Test
        • Reverse Phalen's Test
      • Hip >
        • Craig's Test
        • Dial Test
        • FABER Test
        • FAIR Test
        • Fitzgerald's Test
        • Hip Quadrant Test
        • Hop Test
        • Labral Anterior Impingement Test
        • Labral Posterior Impingement Test
        • Long-Axis Femoral Distraction Test
        • Noble Compression Test
        • Percussion Test
        • Sign of the Buttock
        • Trendelenburg Test
      • Knee >
        • Anterior Drawer Test
        • Dial Test (Tibial Rotation Test)
        • Joint Line Tenderness
        • Lachman Test
        • McMurray Test
        • Noble Compression Test
        • Pivot-Shift Test
        • Posterior Drawer Test
        • Posterior Sag Sign
        • Quad Active Test
        • Thessaly Test
        • Valgus Stress Test
        • Varus Stress Test
      • Foot/Ankle >
        • Anterior Drawer
        • Calf Squeeze Test
        • External Rotation Test
        • Fracture Screening Tests
        • Impingement Sign
        • Navicular Drop Test
        • Squeeze Test
        • Talar Tilt
        • Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome Test
        • Test for Interdigital Neuroma
        • Windlass Test