Successful professionals make it a point to stay current with industry trends, and physical therapists are no exception. Whether you’re passionate about career growth, clinical care, pain science, a niche like sports or pelvic floor therapy, or finding creative ways to use your degree, there’s probably a PT blog out there for you. In this post, we’ve curated some of the best physical therapy blogs on the Internet. Some are written by PTs; others are managed by professional writers, researchers, or other types of clinicians.
Advocacy
Move Forward: The APTA’s official blog includes a wide variety of articles, including posts on pain science, patient stories, inspirational anecdotes, advocacy, and research. (Blog creator: The American Physical Therapy Association)
Clinical Guidance and Evidence-Based Care
Ortho Treatment Recommendations
The Manual Therapist: The award-winning Modern Manual Therapy blog delivers content on a variety of subjects, from mobilizations for acute ankle inversions to the importance of providing reassurance to patients. (Blog creator: Dr. Erson Religioso III, DPT, MS, MTC, CertMDT, CFC, CSCS, FMS, FMT, FAAOMPT)
Fitness Pain Free: At one time, we were all anatomy virtuosos. Then, we got into clinical practice—and life happened. If you’re like me, some of that anatomy started to get rusty. One of the best things about Fitness Pain Free is that its articles feature extensive anatomy reviews. This helps readers gain a deeper understanding of movement from an anatomical and biomechanical perspective. (Blog creator: Dan Pope, a physical therapist, coach and self-proclaimed meathead)
Evidence in Motion: This organization is all about education, including continuing ed and residencies. Thus, the blog content has a decidedly academic feel. However, you’ll also find op-ed style content, conference recaps, and business-focused articles. (Blog creator: Evidence in Motion)
Pain Science
Body In Mind: This Australia-based website is the brainchild of a professor and a publisher. The duo created the site to promote a better understanding of the clinical pain sciences. Since its launch in 2009, it has grown to include a team of experts who provide an incredible wealth of information about clinical pain science, including evidence-based research and analysis of how pain presents. (Blog creator: A group of Australian clinicians and scientists who explore pain as it relates to the body and mind)
PainScience.com: In addition to publishing tons of excellent content on the topic of pain science, this site’s blog is searchable and sortable, which makes it much easier to find what you need. Plus, each article has a word count estimate, so you know how much time you’re investing before you go down the rabbit hole! One of the best things about the site is that there are no distracting advertisements popping up while you read. (Blog creator: Paul Ingraham, a Canadian science writer who served as the assistant editor of Science-Based Medicine from 2009-2016)
Mike Reinold’s Blog: Mike Reinold is a PT, strength and conditioning coach, and performance enhancement specialist who founded his own private practice PT and performance practice after working with The Boston Red Sox, The American Sports Medicine Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Winner of Therapydia’s coveted Best Overall Blog in 2013, Mike Reinold’s Blog is a combination of great articles and episodes of the #AskMikeReinold Show. (Blog creator: Michael M. Reinold, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS)
Pediatrics
Wired on Development: This is a knowledge hub with both free and premium content. It contains interviews, informative articles, and research and is a well-known informational powerhouse for pediatric therapists. (Blog creator: Mindy Silva, PT)
Starfish Therapies’ Blog: This blog is written for parents and therapy professionals alike, so you’ll find a wide mix of information and recommendations on treatments, toys, and activities designed to optimize kids’ function. (Blog creator: Starfish Therapies, which is a California-based pediatric therapy company with locations in Burlingame, San Francisco, and Palo Alto)
Pink Oatmeal: This website is unique in that it provides movement strategies and downloadable activities (both paid and free) designed to get kids moving. The target audience is teachers, parents, and physical therapists, so you will find a wide variety of info and resources on both the blog and general website. (Blog creator: Chanda Jothen, PT, DPT)
Dinosaur Physical Therapy: This blog is run by a pediatric physical therapy clinic and includes information about teaching kids how to walk and crawl, as well as resources on handling issues like flat feet and choosing the right footwear. (Blog creator: Dinosaur Physical Therapy, a Washington, DC-based peds clinic)
Pelvic Health
Julie Wiebe’s Blog: Julie represents the #pelvicmafia, so if you’re interested in pelvic health, check out her blog—and her video blog. While you’re at it, search #pelvicmafia on Twitter for more great pelvic health content. Julie’s blog contains tons of patient-facing content, which makes it extra unique and useful for your practice! (Blog creator: Julie Wiebe, PT)
Sports
The Sports Physio. While this site is primarily a destination for sports and treatment content, the author is a refreshing change from some of our profession’s other gurus. He provides, in his own words, a “simple, practical, and evidenced-based approach,” and he enjoys enlightening PTs and the general public about the effectiveness and evidence of the many “alternative” treatments within PT. (Blog creator: Adam Meakins, a UK-based physiotherapist)
The Running Physio: Started in 2012 by a UK-based physiotherapist, this site initially offered free advice to runners seeking info about injury treatment and prevention. Over time, it has evolved into both a patient-facing and practitioner-facing resource. If you’re a PT who treats runners, don’t miss this one! (Blog creator: Tom Goom, a physiotherapist practicing in the UK)
Career Growth
The Non-Clinical PT: This site provides tons of resources to help you use your physical therapy degree and education to do something outside of traditional patient care. The website comprises inspiring spotlights of non-clinical therapists, informative articles detailing how to leave patient care, job and resume recommendations, and ways to leverage your degree and education in ways that contribute to the growth of our profession. (Blog creator: Meredith Castin, PT, DPT)
DIY Career Docs: This website is another new addition to the game, but the author is not only a physical therapist, but also a career coach and certified resume writer. She creates fantastic content that helps you grow your job application materials without the headaches. (Blog creator: Donna Lampke, PT, DPT, CPRW, ACRW)
Compliance, Marketing, and Business
Gawenda Seminars & Consulting Blog: Compliance, billing, and coding can cause massive headaches for PTs. This blog provides information about compliance, CPT and ICD coding, denial management, documentation, and payment—so PTs can spend their time providing great care. (Blog creator: Rick Gawenda, PT)
BuildPT Blog: This blog provides information about physical therapy marketing. It’s geared toward private practice clinics and covers topics like website development, content marketing, and growing an email list. (Blog creator: Tannus Quatre, PT, MBA)
Dr. Jarod Carter’s Blog: This is a great blog for private practice owners—specifically, those operating (or considering operating) cash-based clinics. The author offers a mix of business-themed how-tos and general musings and industry analysis. (Blog creator: Dr. Jarod Carter, PT, DPT)
UpDoc Media: This blog comes from a digital media marketing company tailored specifically to physical therapy services. As you would imagine, the blog exists at the intersection of physical therapy and marketing. (Blog creators: Gene Shirokobrod, PT, DPT, Ben Fung, PT, DPT, Erson Religioso, PT, DPT, and Joe Palmer, PT, DPT)
The WebPT Blog: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention WebPT’s great business-focused blog content. If you’re struggling to understand Medicare, want to know what’s coming down the pike for our industry, or are looking to improve your online search strategy, you’ll find it all on the WebPT blog. (Blog creator: WebPT and its team of in-house and freelance content writers)
Students and New Grads
The Student Physical Therapist: While the creators have long since finished PT school, they continue to release helpful information to support students as they transition into full-fledged clinicians. (Blog creators: Jim Heafner, PT, DPT, OCS, Chris Fox, PT, DPT, OCS, and Brian Schwabe, PT, DPT, SCS)
Travel
PT Adventures: This website has tons of great information for prospective therapy travelers who want to be smart about getting the most out of the travel PT experience. (Blog creators: Ellen Stockhausen, PT, DPT, and her husband, Stephen Stockhausen, PT, DPT)
Clearly, there are enough physical therapy blogs out there to keep you reading all day, every day. We worked to provide a broad scope of the very best blogs in the industry—ones that run the gamut from marketing and business to clinical information. What are your favorite physical therapy blogs? We’d love you to share them in the comments!
