At Mobility Doc, we’ve always believed that great care starts with curiosity. This week, Dr. Chloe shares reflections from the Pennsylvania Physical Therapy Conference (MovePA), where she was reminded that belonging, community, and curiosity go hand in hand. Her takeaways echo what drives everything we do here — personalized physical therapy that sees you as more than just an injury or diagnosis.
In her note below, Dr. Chloe opens up about how curiosity shapes our approach to care and why understanding your unique story helps us help you move — and live — better.
Reflections From MovePA -
with Dr. Chloe
This past weekend I went to the Pennsylvania Physical therapy conference, called MovePA, in Harrisburg. If we’ve ever talked about school/learning, I’ve probably said something along the lines of loving school so much that I’d be a full-time student for forever if I could, even taking the tests and writing the papers! So needless to say, this weekend was a delight. Most delightful was feeling inspired by the two days of insightful speakers and presenters. And it left me feeling even more certain about our mission at Mobility Doc. I want to use this as an opportunity to talk about our commitment to you all as our patients.
Of note was the keynote speaker, Tonya Miller, PT, DPT, PhD. She talked about the idea of belonging and how that creates a community. It was some of what you’d probably nod your head at—mutual caring and shared interests. And she went on to detail the role that PTs can have in creating belonging and shaping a community and urged us to claim that role. In sharing her vision, she recommended that PTs approach their work with curiosity. And this is something I want to elaborate on, because this is one of the most impactful elements of our care at Mobility Doc.
The Importance of Curiousity
Every time I have a PT student I say to them that I don’t need them to know everything; I just need them to be curious. And of course, “just” is doing some heavy lifting, because it’s really not so easy. To be curious as a physical therapist isn’t just about being curious about “the body” or being curious about “the problem.” To me, it’s about being curious about the person that has that “body” and that “problem” and creating an individualized plan around that person. And I feel that this orientation is critical to our care.
Again you’d be nodding your head at the idea of individualized care. You’d likely agree with me when I say that I wouldn’t treat a 16 year old softball player with patellar tendinitis the same as a 55 year old pilot who has patellar tendinitis. Yes, they’d likely have different strength and flexibility limitations. But the impact of their pain and limitations on their lives would be very different. And how I go about formulating a plan with them would be very different. What’s not always clear is how we create individualized care.
Individualized Care
It seems obvious that we like the idea of individualized care centered around “treating the whole person.” We sometimes call this “holistic” care and many of you have come to me desiring this. And I’m right there with you! I want this for you and for PT. But it’s not entirely clear how that’s approached in healthcare. What is commonly called holistic care can also be understood as contextualizing care in PT. In this approach, we want to know the personal, social, and environmental factors that influence a patient’s health condition and treatment. These are called “contextualized factors.” Then we formulate the treatment around this. By doing so, patient care becomes individualized and we see the patient as a whole person.
Contextual Factors
The contextual factors create this differentiation between the two patients, and they are key elements to individualized care. And maybe most importantly, how we go about understanding these contextual factors are because your PT is curious. You don’t just ask a few questions on the initial evaluation. Or I don’t think that’s the right approach. At Mobility Doc, we try to know you a little more each time you come for an appointment, so we can layer in those contextual factors, so we can know you as a person. For example, I know how my patients walk, how they stand, how they tend to get off of the table, and I try to take note of when something changes. But more, I think it’s imperative that we know how a patient goes about living their life, because it matters if a patient needs to sit in a car for 3 hours every weekend taking their child to soccer games. And you only learn that information by being continually curious.
So this is our commitment to you at Mobility Doc. We want to continue to be curious about you, to learn about you, to understand you. In doing so, we want to help you to live your life more fully through movement. We have learned so much from you all over the years, and we’re committed to continuing to help you in an individualized, (contextualized!) way that will serve you best.
A Note of Thanks
We want to take a moment to thank every one of you who’s part of the Mobility Doc community — whether you’ve been with us for years or just started your journey. You inspire us to stay curious, to keep learning, and to never stop improving how we help you move through life.
Because of you, our mission thrives — a living, breathing community built on curiosity, care, and connection.
