How to Integrate Nutrition in PT Practice

By Dr. Sean M. Wells, DPT, PT, OCS, ATC/L, CSCS, CNPT, NSCA-CPT, Cert-DN

Many physical therapists (PTs) seeking continuing education courses for manual therapy, specialized modalities, and new exercises, feel comfortable with the content before enrolling in the course. Afterall, most PTs had exposure to some, if not all, of these concepts in PT school and in practice. But what about nutrition training?

Like medical doctors the majority of DPTs today and nearly all of the graduate PTs with MS and BS degrees received little to no education in nutrition. Understandably this lack of knowledge leaves a riff in clinical practice and a desire to learn more to help a patient.

So, let’s dive into some ways for physical therapists to integrate PT into their practice. 

#1 Get The Basics

Understanding the basic components of nutrition is a must. Many clinicians think they must enroll in advanced online courses for supplementation, specialized dieti...