Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy Fellowship

Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy (OMPT) is a specialized area of physical therapy practice utilized in the management of musculoskeletal conditions and based on clinical reasoning and the use of highly specific manual techniques and therapeutic exercises. The goal of OMPT fellowship training is the promotion of ethical and reflective advanced clinical practice.

Fellows are frequently post-residency prepared or board-certified specialists who demonstrate clinical expertise in physical therapy. This program provides advanced clinical and didactic instruction and mentoring within a subspecialty area of practice to create an environment for advanced clinical skill-building.

Program Format

The non-credit Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy Fellowship will last approximately 18 months and contain clinical, didactic, teaching, and scholarship experiences. We will partner with Pro Ex Physical Therapy (a private outpatient orthopedic practice) to develop these components.

Content will be provided in a weekend and/or distance education-continuing education format which will allow area clinicians—in addition to the fellows from all six clinical sites—to participate in coursework. Topic areas will include the bio-psychosocial approach to patient management, clinical application of therapeutic exercise/medical exercise therapy, evidence-based practice, diagnostic imaging, screening for medical conditions, and pharmacology.

Fellows will participate in several intensive training sessions to develop and practice their psychomotor skills in manual therapy techniques. These training sessions are scheduled at the start of the fellowship (two weeks), and at the three- and six-month intervals (each of these training sessions lasts one week) to allow fellows enough time to refine their skills via clinical practice in the content areas of upper-extremity, lower-extremity, and spinal regions. In addition, fellows will participate in grand rounds on a quarterly basis, with all fellows in the program as well as the academic and clinical faculty.

Standards of competency are based on the requirements established by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy (AAOMPT).