American Physical Therapy CSM Conference

This session was created to provide a comprehensive learning experience on the physical therapist’s role in physical activity promotion and medical fitness prescription, given from both the PT and fitness professional’s perspective. Participants are challenged to look through a different lens at physical therapy by questioning the traditional rehab - discharge continuum and encouraged to consider promoting a bridge to prescribed exercise following physical therapy. Content in this introductory section is theoretically based on APTA advocacy and experience in practice. Following the introduction from the PT’s lens, a thorough overview of medical fitness is provided. This session includes a basic introduction to the fitness profession, how exercise can be performed for medicinal benefits, and benefits of a physical therapy/fitness professional collaboration for improving individual and community health. This session also emphasizes hands-on, practical learning experiences covering the following topics: motivational interviewing, health behavior change, the patient handoff from physical therapy to fitness professionals, the fitness assessment as performed by a fitness professional, and exercise progression through periodization. Participants walk away more prepared to take on our profession’s vision to optimize movement by learning concrete strategies to promote the behavior and consistency of movement to improve health.