Masters in Motion

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 urging me to interview Eileen. She is an honorary fellow of AAOMPT and was integrally involved in the development of postprofessional training in the US. I'm calling this Season 1.5. I will slowly release just a couple of interviews with physical therapists who have excelled in clinical practice and who I didn't get a chance to interview in the first season.

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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 was one of only two students to integrate EC Glass High School in Lynchburg, VA. In this podcast, you'll hear audio from Martin Luther King Jr's speech that day at her school. You'll also hear from Dr. Charlene Portee, one of Lynda's mentees--and from Lynda herself by way of  an interview she did as part of APTA's oral histories back in 2002. Lynda passed away in 2018, but through her interview and life story we were able to get a handle on some concepts that just might bring out the rebel in us all.

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*Correction: Case Western Reserve was one of the first post-baccalaureate physical therapy programs, not master's degree programs.

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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.

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In this second of a three-part recap of the interviews this season, Seth Peterson reviews some of our guests' recommendations for clinical practice.

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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 interviews have focused on the mindset and approaches these individuals took early on in their careers. In this episode, Seth reviews some on the common themes - so that we can apply those to our own lives.

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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 Episode 2. 

The focus of this interview was to get Gregg's thoughts on thorny clinical questions. We touch on how physical therapists can remain clinicians later into their careers, how to integrate recent evidence into your clinical practice, and how to approach patients and exercise prescription. 

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 private practices, and launching the first private physical therapy school - has been profound.

In this episode, Stanley reviews his life story, what caused him to be so driven, and the dark side of that drive. At 84 years old, Seth also asks Stanley to look into the future and where he thinks physical therapy should focus over the next 100 years.

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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 major in history before switching to physical therapy at the last minute. He would end up switching to physical therapy and would do more than travel a few hours south of Folsom - he would train halfway around the world. Today, Michael is one of the founding fellows of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT), winner of numerous professional awards, and a clinician who continues to practice today, at 72 years old.

Over and over again, Michael had grit in the face of initial doubt. In this podcast, Michael describes his story of perseverance, experiences training with Maggie Knott and Freddie Kaltenborn, and some of the thoughts he has on what physical therapists - and their profession - need to do in the future.

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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 Orthopedic Manual Therapy Residency program and begin his own clinic. When the director of the program asked Joe to attend a meeting of the now 8 residency program directors, he did - and would end up getting elected as the first president of their new Academy - AAOMPT.

Joe is one of the few physical therapists who have been a clinician for over 40 years while also being heavily involved in leadership. On this show, he shares the perspective that kept him going so long and what issue is still keeping him engaged today.

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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 vault her into a faculty position at her alma mater. When she came up with the idea of aligning our professional identity with movement, Shirley didn't give up.

40 some-odd years later, Shirley's vision for the profession was partially realized. She continues to have ideas about where physical therapy should go in the future and what things we should jettison on the way.

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