Department of Physical TherapyThe Department of Physical Therapy is part of the College of Education and Health Sciences. There are approximately 140 students enrolled in the two different physical therapy programs (Doctor of Physical Therapy and Physical Therapist Assistant). Ten full-time faculty members as well as a number of adjunct faculty members with expertise in a variety of content areas teach within the department. The are four physical therapy laboratories. Expansion of the labs occurred in 1989, 1996 and 1998 to accommodate the increased number of students in both programs. The physical therapy faculty has designed a curriculum that reflects contemporary professional education and clinical practice. A strong liberal arts and sciences background, a diverse undergraduate experience and innovative professional didactic and clinical course work defines the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at UE. Through classroom and clinical experiences, students acquire the requisite critical thinking and problem solving skills to deliver quality patient care based upon current best evidence. Evidence Based Practice Principles Integrated into Curriculum
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is defined by McMaster
University Department of Epidemiology as "an approach to health care
practice in which the clinician is aware of the clinical evidence
supporting his or her clinical practice approach, and the strength of
that evidence." EBP is more than the next buzzword in physical
therapy. It is thought to be an integral part of our profession and
represents the optimal practice model for now and the future (see
www.evidenceinmotion.com). It is also one of the six components of the
American Physical Therapy Association's vision for 2020.
Development The Department of Physical Therapy is developing a clinical research lab which includes a motion analysis unit. Initial equipment purchases were made in the fall 2006. The Dunigan Institute for Health Science Studies is committed to providing quality teaching and research opportunities for our students and faculty. It is through these experiences that our students will develop the skills necessary to be exceptional healthcare professionals. The institute also supports faculty directed scholarship that will contribute to the body of knowledge in the health sciences with the ultimate goal of reducing and preventing disability in the community. The state-of-the-art facility was made possible through a generous gift from UE trustee Larry Dunigan and his wife. If you have ever wondered of how you could contribute to the continued success of the physical therapy programs, we encourage your careful consideration. Gifts indicating restriction of use to the Department of Physical Therapy may be sent to UE's Office of Development. News and EventsSeptember 23, 2008-The Doctor of Physical Therapy Program's class of 2009 participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this past Sunday. The students raised $5,843.00 in 14 days, which was the third highest amount raised by a local team this year. Kyle Kiesel, Robert Butler and Frank Underwood, faculty members in the Department of Physical Therapy, mentored the student group of Andrea Duckworth, Tara Halaby, Kevin Lannan, Craig Phifer, and Christine Rufkahr all 2006 graduates of the MPT program on their research project titled: Experimentally induced pain alters the EMG activity of the lumbar multifidus in asymptomatic subjects. Kyle presented the research in November at the 6th Interdisciplinary World Congress on Low Back & Pelvic Pain held in Barcelona Spain. The conference was attended by over 1000 physicians and physical therapists from 65 countries. Pictured together at the conference are Kyle Kiesel (far right), Tara Halaby, and Zach Couch a 2002 UE Physical Therapy Graduate who was also in attendance at the conference.
Congratulations to Kyle Kiesel, assistant
professor, and Phil Plisky, adjunct faculty from the department of Physical
Therapy who had their research study titled, Can serious injury in
professional football be predicted by a preseason functional movement
screen?
published
in the August 2007 edition of the North American Journal of Sports Physical
Therapy. It demonstrated that professional football players scoring below the identified
threshold score on the Functional Movement Screen were at a greater risk for
injury than those scoring above the threshold.
Robert Butler,
Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy, published an article entitled "The
effect of a subject-specific amount of lateral wedge on knee mechanics in
patients with medial knee osteoarthritis" in this month's Journal of
Orthopaedic Research with colleagues from the University of Delaware.
The article is an addition to the evolving body of literature on
conservative mechanical interventions for individuals diagnosed with knee
osteoarthritis. Conservative mechanical interventions have been reported to
be most effective in patients when utilized at the earliest possible
detection of disease progression. This development is the impetus for the
Dunigan Movement Analysis Lab's current research project evaluating gait
mechanics in individuals who have suffered an ACL rupture who are at a 5
fold risk of developing knee osteoarthritis by the age of 50.
Congratulations to Kyle Kiesel and Frank Underwood from
the Department of Physical Therapy. They had the following manuscript
published in the October issue of the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports
Physical Therapy. Physical Therapy Department Receives Welborn Baptist Foundation Grant Many activity-related injuries can be prevented. And thanks to a grant from the Welborn Baptist Foundation, Inc., students and faculty at UE – in collaboration with ProRehab – will spend the next year helping teach that prevention to young children. The Physical Therapy Department received a $39,500 grant from the Welborn Baptist Foundation, Inc., last week for a collaborative, school-based wellness program incorporating “healthy” movement into standard physical education activity. In this program, UE faculty and ProRehab professionals will go to St. Ben’s Elementary School during both the spring and fall of 2008, where they will spend eight weeks each semester working with students’ active movement patterns. They will begin by observing the students’ movements in certain physical education activities – everything from walking to doing push-ups to simply stepping over bars or other obstacles. They then will spend the rest of the available time working with the students to correct improper motions that could, if left unchecked, lead to injuries later in life.
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