Physical Therapist assisting patient

Grow and develop skills as an advanced spine care physical therapist.

The Spine Physical Therapy Fellowship is one year in length, beginning in July. Within that year, fellows receive an average of 40 hours per week of structured time. The breakdown of those hours includes 36 hours of patient care, including 5 hours of one-on-one hands-on mentoring, plus 4 hours of lecture/lab, experiential learning, research, and interprofessional collaboration.

What makes this program unique?

  • Opportunity to work with 4 different mentors throughout the course of the year to give varying perspectives on clinical practice
  • Designated mentor hours weekly with 1:1 instruction and real time feedback
  • Weekly in-person classes on specific body regions to review up to date concepts and practice hands on skills in lab
  • Strong leadership development focus for facility directors, clinical leaders, or other physical therapy leaders
  • Mentorship training provided for the fellow with subsequent mentoring of other physical therapists to aid in leadership development
  • Two offsite courses in advanced spine care management through University of Southern California (examination, manipulation, pain science)
  • Multifaceted approach with diverse faculty contributing to the coursework and mentoring sessions
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Sample fellow weekly schedule

The information below provides an illustrative example of the weekly schedule. Please note that specifics are subject to change as updates and enhancements to program are continually made to improve the fellow learning experience.

Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
AM Patient Care Patient Care Mentoring with Patient Care Class or Experiential Learning Patient Care
PM Patient Care Patient Care Patient Care Patient Care Patient Care

Topic Hours
Foundations / Orientation 41
Differential Diagnosis 4
Integrated Management Concepts
(TBC, Maitland, Mulligan, McKenzie, MSI, STM, etc)		 44
Salesmanship 8
Mentoring Skills 98
Spinal Manipulation 33
Advanced Lumbosacral Spine 38
Advanced Cervicothoracic Spine 38
Referral, Radiology & Pharmacology 24
Leadership 41
Pain Science 17
Dry Needling 16
Neurodynamics 8
Soft Tissue Mobilization 8
Research Project 45
Ortho Surgery 10
Neurosurgery 10
Pain Management 10
Family Medicine 5
Occupational Medicine 5
Elective 5
Case Defense 40
Written & Practical Exams 8
1:1 mentorship - during patient care 186
1:1 mentorship - planning/discussion/review
of diagnostic tests, evaluation, observation, plan of care etc.		 30
Clinical Practice with mentor accessible virtually 1472
Total Hours 2254
Avg hrs/week 48

Experiential Learning

Experiential learning consists of diverse observational and interactive learning experiences throughout the St. Luke’s University Health Network. You will be observing and interacting with many different types of physicians and residents from family practice, occupational medicine, pain management, neurosurgery, and orthopedic surgery. You also get the opportunity to observe other advanced spine care physical therapists.

Physical Therapist helping patient workout

How to Apply

Submit your application to be considered for the St. Luke’s Spine Physical Therapy Fellowship.

Apply now