About the course

Foundational clinical skills separate good clinicians from great ones. This course is designed to help physical therapists master the essential competencies that drive patient outcomes, effective communication, comprehensive examination, and evidence-based exercise prescription. You'll start with motivational interviewing principles, including the Spirit of MI (Partnership, Acceptance, Compassion, Evocation) and OARS communication strategies, then learn to integrate MI with pain neuroscience education to build therapeutic alliance and reduce fear-avoidance. The course progresses through efficient clinical examination skills, teaching you how to interpret findings and grade impairments systematically. The Clinical Decision Making Model presented emphasizes N=1 evidence—what your patient actually demonstrates matters more than theory alone. You'll learn when to apply research to rule out serious pathology and determine contraindications, while trusting clinical presentation over rigid protocols. The course covers exercise prescription, including programming principles and exercise-induced analgesia, plus the mechanisms and communication strategies for manual therapy. You'll complete a pre-course assessment to identify your starting point, progress through self-paced modules with podcast episodes and peer-reviewed articles, then demonstrate competency gains through a post-course assessment. Everything is designed to strengthen patient engagement, clinical reasoning, and treatment effectiveness.

Meet Your Instructor: Dr. Nick Rainey

I'm a physical therapist, clinic owner, and educator who works with patients across the lifespan in real clinical practice. Foundational skills often get overlooked in continuing education. Early in my career, I had plenty of technique courses but struggled with patient buy-in, knowing which examination findings actually mattered, and designing exercise progressions that matched patient readiness and capacity. Through years of clinical experience, mentoring clinicians, and teaching residents, I've learned that mastering communication, examination efficiency, and exercise prescription principles has a greater impact than any manual therapy technique or special test ever could. My goal with this course is to help you refine the core skills that determine whether patients engage with treatment, whether your examination informs your decisions, and whether your exercise prescriptions drive meaningful change.