What is Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency?

Spine & Sport creates residency trained physical therapists through our orthopedic physical therapy residency program. The goal of our residency program is to advance the professional development of practicing physical therapists. Orthopedic physical therapy residency is an intense 12–18 month, one-on-one mentorship which provides specialized training for all of our licensed physical therapists.

Our residency trained physical therapists are certified to be in the top 2.5% of all treating physical therapists in the United States. Spine & Sport is the ONLY physical therapy practice in Southeast Georgia that does this. Every therapist at Spine & Sport is pursuing advanced certifications in their field of expertise to ensure that their patients improve as rapidly as modern treatment allows.

Residency graduates are leaders in the physical therapy profession with their skills and interventions. Based on survey results, orthopedic physical therapy residency improves the life of the physical therapist, and the life of their patients. It is research proven that the training our Residents go through helps our patients to 1. Get Better Faster and 2. Get Better Results.

Spine & Sport has successfully graduated 7 residents, and currently has 3 actively participating in the orthopedic physical therapy residency program.

Spine & Sport graduation requirements generally include:

150 hours of one-on-one mentorship
Improved patient outcomes with evidence based treatments
Improved efficiency of treatment
Successfully generating direct access patients

Additional graduation requirements include:

Advanced critical thinking
Manipulation interventions
Introspective analysis
Creating publishable works for social media or print publication

In comparison to the Medical Model of Education: an intern is someone who is paying an academic institution for a clinical learning environment before they have graduated from that academic institution; a resident is someone who has graduated from the traditional academic training and now holds a state license to practice that scientific art and who is undertaking a specialized course of study in any of the many different human body sub-specialties (i.e., Orthopedic Surgeon), and this course of study may last 3-6 years prior to completing all graduation requirements; a fellow is someone who has completed residency and is now specializing even further in one area (i.e., Orthopedic Surgeon who does a 1 year fellowship in total joint replacements of the knee and hip, thus becoming a “Total Joint Specialist”).

For information about our in-house Residency and Fellowship Programs please contact us.