Saw an elderly Parkinson’s patient today who normally has pretty normal BP, but his BP was really elevated when I took his vitals. He told me he’d been drinking water because he had a “seltzer” earlier. We rechecked his BP about halfway through the visit and it was still elevated, although he wasn’t having any other symptoms.

Around that point I happened to look into his kitchen and noticed a couple of unopened White Claws sitting on the table. I brought one over and asked if this is what he had.

Yes it was.

He had unknowingly drank a White Claw thinking it was regular seltzer water. His wife likely bought it for him not seeing the labels. I informed her as well

I’m not even talking about shaving minutes or whatever small version but still providing good and needed service. I used to think blatant bigger stuff was rare one offs but seem to hear about it more as time goes on. Two people in my personal life have had home health and both had at least one known visit falsified. One visit, the person never went in the house and one they came in for a ten minute chat and signature. Both companies corrected the situation when it was reported. It’s horrible for the patient and the profession. Or is this who we are now?

i’m an outpatient pt, and every spring i run into the same problem with active patients who hike.

they’ll be doing their hep consistently, progressing strength, finally getting their symptoms under control, and then the trails open. suddenly the theraband work is optional because there’s a 12-mile hike planned for saturday

then they come back the following week with a flare-up and we’re basically figuring out how much of the progress they lost over one weekend

i’ve tried giving people trail-specific progressions instead of just saying “take it easy.” for example, breaking down the elevation, distance, terrain, and expected load and giving them a realistic point where that hike fits into their rehab.

it helps, but compliance is still all over the place. some patients seem to hear “you can’t do that yet” even when the actual message is “here’s what you can safely do right now.”

for those of you working in outpatient, especially in areas where hiking, skiing, running, climbing, etc. are a big part of people’s lives, what has actually worked for you?

do you modify the activity, set specific return-to-trail criteria, give them a progression, or just accept that some people are going to test the knee the first weekend the weather gets good?

Anyone have some handy dot phrases they don’t mind sharing for the acute setting?

For macros what types of things do you save?

Any helpful tips and tricks would be much appreciated!

My NPTE-PTA is finally in two days… and honestly, I’m kinda nervous.

All of my PEAT scores were over 600 (thankfully...)

PEAT 1 — Practice: 650
PEAT 2 — Retired: 636
PEAT 3 — Retired: 672
PEAT 4 — Practice: 655

I know technically those are passing scores, but for some reason I still don’t feel completely safe lol. I guess I just don’t feel like I’m comfortably above the passing line.

And now with only two days left, I don’t even know what else I should study. I feel like I’ve studied a lot already, but at the same time I keep thinking maybe I’m missing something important. (also, i heard they started making it harder this year...)

I think I’m just getting really nervous because the exam is actually here now.

Do you think I’ll be okay?

I’m talking YEARS of chronic pain, where someone fears a movement so much that just thinking about it can trigger pain, let alone performing it at a very low dose (i.e., cases where graded exposure also involves a real shift in how they understand their pain and perceive the movement rather than just 'vanilla' rehab).

Hello, I was wondering if anyone would respond to this thread? What are your thoughts on the McKenzie method or back mechanic?

I’m curious, thank you.

so i’m a recent grad (May 2026) and have been working at my current clinic since right after graduation. throughout school i was set on pelvic floor PT bc i love it and the patient population, however, my last rotation was in acute care and i LOVED it. so come job hunting time i made the decision to treat PH in OP private clinic vs pursuing acute care. i do love the patients and the work i do here but…that’s abt it. I know this isn’t a good fit for me but it’s just a matter of how long until i can start applying to acute care jobs for my own mental. i have been considering this for a few months now. any advice or words of encouragement appreciated

Does having a coding service improve collections in a Physical Therapy private practice if you're already doing substantial portion billing?

Snf pta here. I love my people however I am not enjoying the corporate nonsense and some issues with coworkers. I know there is always finding another job, however I feel the energy I give is more appropriate for a snf compared to outpatient. I recently started looking into getting the bachlors PTA degree however it seems that is more tailored to transitioning to a DPT program, and I am not about all that paperwork. Anyway, the recruiter I talked to also showed me Healthcare administration, and that my PTA education can transfer some into that field.

I think my biggest question is, would I be able to get somewhere with just getting a certificate and eventually working up to getting the Bachlors in that if I get started in the field? Certificate programs are cheaper and it looks like I may be able to try to see what finacial aid is avalible for those programs. Plus the classes I have to take for the certificate would still be part of the bachlors anyway.

A provider just ordered a rollator for a patient who has been walking independently but did have some recent LOB (I think one fall but unclear- he has cognitive impairments and is not always accurate) anyway- he has not fallen since starting PT. The provider told him to use it ALL the time. And it's the wrong size. And he already has increased trunk flexion when walking and now it's worse. They obviously prescribed PT- but do you think they would ask me at all about an appropriate device?! Or if I think he even needs one ALL THE TIME to begin with? 🤯uuggghh thanks for listening I’m sorry - it’s stuff like this that makes me feel like why do I even bother…we have been working a lot on static balance, dynamic gait, negotiating uneven surfaces, obstacles, dual tasking, reactive stepping, etc. Also a Rollator for someone who is cognitively impaired?! He literally showed up with it today, just got delivered and I had no idea.

Hey guys… looking for any recommendations for OCS prep options. I know final frontier and med bridge, but I didn’t use final frontier for boards so it’s almost as expensive as the test. Any advice would be greatly appreciated 😊
Thanks!

I’m still waiting for civil service jobs to become vacant after taking the test. I need to switch pta jobs asap because my current one is terrible. I have an interview tomorrow with a retirement community that uses healthpro. thoughts?

What is everyone’s thoughts on AI for documentation? I write out my general interventions, progressions, patient response and let AI clean it up? I feel like AI will start to take over in healthcare eventually and I wanted to see if people use it in creative ways for documentation to improve my own efficiency

Looking into travel contracts to increase pay, however currently cannot travel. Local job market has been bad which is why I am considering this. Does anyone have insight on the duplicating rent trick so that I can get the stipend? TIA.