Many PT specialty areas have certification examinations which distinguish practitioners as experts in their field. This year, the first ever oncology specialist certification examination was held, which is an exciting step for the oncology physical therapy realm. Among the now certified oncology specialists is Lauren Miller, PT, DPT (from Episode 32), & she is here to pass on how she prepared for the exam & her recommendations for clinicians who are looking to sit for the exam & advance their practice.

For both "OncoPTs" & physical therapists who just happen to get a patient on their schedule who had or has cancer, the most common question I get is "What am I supposed to do in an evaluation?". Never fear!  I cover my top 3 tips to improve your oncology evaluations in today's episode, PLUS I am releasing my brand new, free download "10 Things to Know about Oncology Evaluations" that you can find in today's episode show notes on TheOncoPT.com.  Grab your copy today!

That's right - tomorrow (Thursday, October 17, 2019) is the 2nd International Exercise Oncology Twitter Conference! What is #ExOncTC, you ask? It's an all-day, one day virtual conference hosted entirely on Twitter, with presentations from a variety of speakers from the exercise oncology & cancer rehab worlds. They'll be presenting on diverse topics with some of the latest & greatest research being conducted in our space, as well as expert opinions that you don't want to miss. I'll even be presenting!

Serving patients in the oncology realm is most often a multidisciplinary effort, but are your patients using all of the services they need? Oncology massage therapy is a wonderful complement to our OncoPT services, serving patients with a variety of physical impairments. I interviewed Clare Landy about her experience working as an OncoPT in Australia & as a massage therapist in Austin, Texas in her private practice & within Cancer Rehab & Integrative Medicine.

While PTs know & treat the physical side effects of breast cancer & its treatments, we can tend to shy away from some of the emotional & mental side effects left behind. What we may not realize is that these inner & outer scars significantly affect our patients' quality of life, function, & yes even their progress toward PT treatment goals. Mara DeFilippis is back for part 2 of our recent interview to discuss more on her experiences & what OncoPTs must know.

In Ep. 41, I interviewed the founder of TataTattoos, Mara DeFilippis, about her products & how they are helping women experiment with how they want their bodies to look following breast surgery. Off-air, our conversation continued & morphed into a really powerful conversation about body image, self-confidence, & intimacy related to breast cancer & its treatment. We knew we were really onto something, so I invited Mara back on TheOncoPT Podcast to discuss her experience.

Occasionally, listeners will ask me about how to break into oncology physical therapy if they already have a PT job. Maybe their workplace doesn't have a large oncology patient population just yet or these patients are seeing other therapists within their unit or clinic. Let me say this: there's enough for everybody. So get out there & start treating them!

Breaking into oncology physical therapy can seem daunting, especially if you haven't worked with these patients previously. Even just getting a PT job can feel like it takes forever, especially if you don't know where to look. In today's episode, I break down my 6 tips for how to get into oncology physical therapy if you don't have a job yet.

Once patients are done with cancer rehabilitation services, they need to keep exercising. We know this. What we may not know is how to make this actually happen. Maple Tree Cancer Alliance is bridging this gap for patients by providing community exercise programs to promote overall fitness & wellness during & after active treatments. Founder Karen Wonders, Ph.D. stopped by the podcast to discuss how you can ensure your patients aren't falling through the cracks once they are done with your services.

As one of my patients put it, sometimes nipples are just hood ornaments. Other times, nipples & areolas are a huge part of self-confidence & body image after breast reconstruction surgery. Our patients have varying feelings about their body, but Mara DeFilippis of TataTattoos is using her experience to help women feel more confident, womanly, & sexy with her temporary areola tattoos.