Episode 31: Physical Therapy is the Swiss Army Knife Profession

Future-Proof PT · May 25, 2026 · 1h

Duke's Dr. Chad Cook on the 5 things MSK therapists obsess over, and what we should be doing instead

A VA physician once told a colleague of Dr. Chad Cook's that physical therapy isn't really the movement profession, it's the Swiss Army knife profession, because PTs do a little bit of everything. Whenever no one else knows what to do, the patient gets sent to PT to "get it sorted out."

Chad isn't sure he disagrees. In this episode, Chad joins Alex and Dana to walk through five sacred cows in MSK physical therapy. These are the things clinicians treat as essential that, in his view, matter far…