Oftentimes, when I introduce myself to patients for the first time, I see a flash of panic go across their faces…‘Wait, what was her name again? How am I ever going to remember that?’. Don’t worry, I don’t offend easily and it’s why most patients know me as ‘Dr. G’ or just ‘G’. The second thing they notice is the alphabet soup that is at the end of my name PT, DPT, FAAOMPT, DN Cert . What the heck does all that even mean anyways? Let’s break it down.
First off, ‘PT’ signifies that you are being treated by a licensed physical therapist who passed the national licensure exam. Then comes the DPT. This stands for Doctor of Physical Therapy. Many are surprised to hear that physical therapists actually complete a clinical doctoral degree. In my case, I completed doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh, the #2 physical therapy school in the U.S. After a physical therapist obtains their DPT, they are free to practice in any setting they choose, which could be orthopedics, sports, neurological care, pediatrics, acute care, cardiopulmonary, respiratory, geriatrics, and women’s/men’s health. For me it was only natural that I gravitated towards sports and orthopedics with a 18-year background in playing soccer.
Importantly, physical therapists in Arizona have ‘direct access’, which means you don’t need a referral from a physician or other healthcare professionals to be evaluated for treatment by a physical therapist. They have the education and skills to be able to discern if it is appropriate for you to receive immediate assessment and treatment of a musculoskeletal impairment or for you to be referred out to another specialist.
Even though I was prepared to start practicing right out of graduate school, I always found myself gravitating to a certain breed of physical therapists; those that combine orthopedic and manual therapy to diagnose and treat their patients. I loved the holistic approach. I wanted to learn more. Just like some physicians, who after obtaining their “MD” and complete residency, pursue fellowship training, physical therapists can also subspecialize. This is where the ‘FAAOMPT’ comes into play. This means that I am a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists- quite the mouthful. Fellows are considered the highest degree of clinical degree in orthopedics with less than 2% of all physical therapists having this certification. With the FAAOMPT certification it shows the utmost expertise in functional movement analysis, clinical reasoning, and treatment by manual therapy and exercise. Manual therapy is a hands-on, skilled approach to diagnose and treat orthopedic injuries by implementing graded pressure/force and movement to mobilize or manipulate joints in the spine or extremity, soft tissue, fascia, and elevate awareness of dysfunctional areas.
Finally, ‘DN Cert’ means that I maintain my certification in dry needling. Dry needling is the use of a sterile and flexible acupuncture needle to target taut bands of skeletal muscle know as “trigger points” at the associated segment in the spine or local musculoskeletal system to reduce pain, increase range of motion and flexibility, improve blood flow, and enhance healing. This is an additional certification series physical therapists can seek by taking multiple continuing education courses to achieve proficiency in the needling of each section of the body such as cervicothoracic, lumbosacral, upper extremity and lower extremity.
I intentionally paired all of this training and refined it over thousands of patients so I can use all the tools at my disposal to get to the root of your symptom presentation from the get go. I like to think of it as finding the ‘cause of the cause’. Yes, you tweaked your knee picking up your kid, but how many times have you done that same action without any issue? Usually, there is a breakdown in mechanics due to muscle imbalances that have gone unchecked. Do you have a nagging injury that just isn’t going away? We’d love to take a look at it so you can be the best version of yourself! Give Forward Performance Sports Physical Therapy a call and see for yourself.
