We are now taking applications for students in their third year for clinical rotations for Fall ‘23 and Winter 2024

Prior to my clinical internship with Moment PT, I approached physical therapy from the perspective encouraged by physical therapy school.

This thought process essentially culminated into: Determine a diagnosis, try to remember the protocol based upon the diagnosis, implement a limited number of therapeutic exercises and manual techniques to address the diagnosis.

My primary irritation with this manner of thinking was that I found myself consistently feeling as though I were addressing symptoms and a diagnosis rather than evaluating the unique patient sitting in front of me.

Throughout my experiences at Moment, I began to understand how to appropriately assess each patient through a variety of mobility measures, movement screenings, observations, and various objective measures.

While school encourages you to, “Look up and down the chain” and “Think holistically”, I never truly understood how to do so until I completed my nine-week rotation with Moment PT.

My thought process was able to develop so that I could see how movement compensations in a joint were being utilized to account for a lack of movement options in another.

I began to interpret my objective findings at the beginning of the session and utilize that as a guide to prescribe interventions that could alter those same objective findings throughout the same session.

I was no longer treating a diagnosis with predetermined exercises, but rather I was utilizing true clinical reasoning to assess an individual and provide them with the movement options, tissue demands, or exercise capacity needed for them to achieve their physical therapy goals.

Additionally, Moment PT helped me to understand how a session flow should naturally occur throughout a physical therapy session. This has greatly helped me to confidently progress through a patient session without ever being stuck, not knowing what to do next with the patient in front of me.

Lastly, I feel that Moment PT provided the unique opportunity to develop my “coaching eye”. Treating alongside my clinical instructor, Dr. Cory Hecht, allowed me to recognize movement compensations and limitations in movement strategies as a patient engaged in various exercises.

The development of this skill has allowed me to improve my ability to coach exercise while achieving the desired movement strategies.

While I owe Moment PT so much for development as a physical therapist, I feel that one of the largest takeaways from this internship I had was the importance of the physical therapy experience.

By that I mean that I learned that, as a physical therapist, you can set yourself apart from others if you create an experience that leaves a client excited, motivated, and having fun training towards their goals.

It is inevitable that we as PT’s will make the wrong decisions now and again regarding clinical reasoning, exercise selection, and clinical judgement.

However, what can continue to set you apart from other PT’s is your ability to create an experience for each patient that will make them want to come back for their next session regardless of the clinical decisions made.

One aspect of this internship that sets it apart from any other is the dedication to learning that Moment PT emphasizes throughout the experience, and the true mentoring that comes with this experience.

I primarily worked with Dr. Cory Hecht, who I believe is one of the most intelligent individuals who placed paramount importance on my education throughout the experience.

He would spend countless hours with me answering any and all relevant (and irrelevant) questions regarding the practice, clinical decision making, business decisions, etc.

I truly felt that I left each day with every single one of my questions thoroughly explained.

The lectures presented during this experience were crucial towards my development as they allowed for a succinct understanding of the principles necessary to begin developing my own personal treatment model.

The mentorship that I received from both Dr. Cory Hecht and Dr. Andy Chen was truly second to none, and I am thankful for their time and efforts to further the education of the next generation of physical therapists.

In my personal opinion, the best part of this clinical internship is the ability to treat alongside your clinical instructor during one on one sessions.

This treatment style allowed for me to receive real time feedback about my decision making and clinical reasoning skills so that I would know if my thought process was appropriate or needed to be further refined.

Additionally, treating alongside my clinical instructor throughout this experience allowed me to see how they were able to navigate certain clinical situations, and then I was able to experiment with these strategies and receive feedback as necessary.

Moreover, I feel that the uninterrupted discussion time that I received with my clinical instructor to inquire about any particular question I may have was invaluable.

Not only did I receive a thorough response to my questions, but these questions often led to in depth discussions that further enhanced my understanding of a variety of content.