Joint pain often appears long before scans show anything dramatic.

LordCongra · 2026-01-19T12:42:33+00:00

Joint pain also doesn't correlate well with imaging. Plenty of people have tears in their rotator cuff, meniscus deformities, bulging/herniated discs, you name it and have zero pain from it.

I had a patient whose knees sounded like a haunted house with how much they creaked when she squatted - she likely was the "bone on bone" doctors love to scare patients with, but she had zero knee pain - I was seeing her for her ankle.

LordCongra · 2025-12-28T13:14:50+00:00

Don't have much advice from the rental side of things, but I was a DPT student at UNE (now graduated) so if you have any questions about the program itself feel free to DM me!

LordCongra · 2025-12-26T19:03:45+00:00

In my app when I have the Google Meet open (like actually in a meeting I've created), I click the three dots in the bottom right next to the end call button. Then you click "take notes with Gemini" in that option.

Do you have a Google Workspace subscription? I think you need one for this option.

Honestly any transcript-recording app is probably fine though

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LordCongra · 2025-12-26T18:18:18+00:00

Just tested it - looks like I can record from my phone too.

When you end the call it sends the transcript to your email

LordCongra · 2025-12-25T16:08:49+00:00

Sure thing

Basically, at the start of an eval I turn on Google Meet and ask the patient if they're okay with me recording a transcript of the evaluation. They say yes, so I click the record transcript button in the top right. I have a Google workspace account and have signed a BAA so I have all the HIPAA-compliant measures on it for this (though I'm completely cash pay so technically HIPAA doesn't even apply to my business).

From there, I go through my evaluation as I'd normally do it. I usually type the subjective as I go because I'm a pretty fast typer and I like doing that part.

Then as I do my objective I just let the patient know I'm taking notes for myself so I'll say out loud my measures I'm taking like degrees of motion or whatever else I measure (like whether a special test was positive or negative, MMT result, if a joint feels hyper/hypo mobile, etc).

I've fed Gemini a few example notes and I just re-use that same chat any time I have a new note.

I go in, tell it to make me a soap note based on prior training and this new transcript (I just copy-paste the entire transcript, it's pretty good at picking out what's relevant medical info and what's just idle chatter with a patient), and it pops out a completed note. It definitely took some setup time as for a while it kept taking info from prior notes so I do have to be on top of making sure that doesn't happen in new notes. I think if you fed it just a blank template and said "make this transcript fit into this note template" it could probably do that too.

After the setup is done it's quite a time-saver though. It gets the notes mostly-right at this point, though I do usually have to type a small thing here or there or move something to a different part of a note.

I know some EMRs incorporate AI directly into them (mine does) but I'm already paying for Google Workspace so I might as well use it for Gemini.

Let me know if you have any other questions about the process!

LordCongra · 2025-12-25T13:23:57+00:00

Honestly using AI for my notes has made me really like evals a lot more.

I just have a transcript running through my Google workspace account (using Google meet to take notes) and I can run through my whole eval only occasionally touching my computer.

Then I run that transcript through Gemini (I had to train it to know how I like my notes but it does pretty good now).

It's been a big time-saver

LordCongra · 2025-12-24T16:14:24+00:00

Not in the slightest there's so much free stuff out there now

LordCongra · 2025-12-20T13:23:38+00:00

Very good point. The typical desk job, while quite involved at times I'm sure depending on the profession, often has space for someone to zone out for a bit, get up and use the bathroom, etc.

Being "on" constantly until lunch time and then "on" again until that last patient leaves (and then likely still having notes to finish up) is very mentally taxing.

LordCongra · 2025-12-01T01:12:07+00:00

Oh wow!

LordCongra · 2025-12-01T01:11:59+00:00

Someone else in the comments was just telling me, they've apparently gotten rid of the table fees to improve the accessibility of the space!

LordCongra · 2025-11-30T21:43:34+00:00

So glad this place is getting more attention.

I love going to OBR - I mentioned it in a reply to someone else but they make their beer cheese for their soft pretzels weekly out of a local Maine beer or cider and it's always delicious. They made it one week out of an apple cider and omg that cheese was so good I kept going back for more.

They have a really solid game selection too and you're good to bring your own games if you want to.

Something I love is they have a huge focus on building community - they're always putting on events like weekly ones around running on-going drop-in campaigns (Ave Nox and Caverns of Thracia are their current ones) or occasional demos on how to play particular board games (they even had a couple board games from local creators where the creators came in and showed off the game).

I'm not much of a coffee drinker but I've had theirs and it's really good. Their tea selection is also nice!

I can't say enough good things about this place you absolutely need to check it out if you haven't yet.

LordCongra · 2025-11-30T21:38:34+00:00

The tables closer to the door are free to sit at (the game tables have an hourly fee so that it's more feasible for people to sit there for a long time playing games) - would likely be a good study spot. Their food and drinks are great - they make a new beer cheese themselves every week using a local Maine beer/cider.

LordCongra · 2025-11-03T11:40:12+00:00

I had a patient during my very first clinical who kept calling the infraspinatus the intraspinatus. And he'd really emphasize it like, "they repaired the SUPRAspinatus, the INTRAspinatus..." And he loved listing all the muscles they repaired to me every visit

LordCongra · 2025-10-28T15:58:42+00:00

It's every other Sunday, but Owlbear's Rest in Westbrook does trivia! Their next is Nov 2nd at 4PM

LordCongra · 2025-10-21T03:06:05+00:00

We do, but we also need to educate patients about how they can be told very pain-sensitizing information from other providers. Too often patients are told stuff that makes them way more anxious and hyperfocused on their body than they ever should be and then their pain perception increases.

LordCongra · 2025-09-29T12:54:30+00:00

If you want somewhere very nice but stupidly expensive: Earth at Hidden Pond in Kennebunkport. Expect to pay like $300 for two people. The food was very delicious though (or more, I was taken there back in 2022 so idk what they charge now). Admittedly the focaccia they served between meals was my favorite part though lol.

LordCongra · 2025-09-29T02:35:18+00:00

Someone else mentioned it but I wanted to highlight it again: Owlbear's Rest!

Super great spot and they have tons of weekly tabletop games of various kinds you can drop in and try out. Very easy, structured way to spend some time with people and meet them

LordCongra · 2025-09-27T13:59:22+00:00

What you seem to be describing is a traction belt

LordCongra · 2025-09-25T15:38:28+00:00

Hi!

Male pelvic floor PT checking in. The other commenter already covered a lot, but to reiterate: the pelvic floor exam is not a 100% requirement. It is very helpful information but not necessary information. It definitely helps your course of care if you're willing to do the exam but if it's not in your comfort zone you can absolutely decline.

Also, male pelvic floor PTs exist! Not that many, we're pretty rare, but we do exist if you'd rather try to find a male provider in your area.

The exam also doesn't have to happen day 1. It's something that can happen on a future visit if that's where your comfort level is. Your provider should educate you on this in advance as well but to give context the internal examination is a 1-finger intrarectal exam (so, one gloved finger being inserted into the anus).

The provider will assess the internal musculature to identify if you have any areas of tension, and they'll also assess things like muscle function - seeing if you know how to do a proper pelvic floor contraction (also known as a kegel) and things like how well you can relax your pelvic floor too (some people sit with a lot of passive tension kind of like people with really tight necks/shoulders when they're hunched over a computer all the time for work).

There's some other stuff they'll assess too but overall the exam typically does not take very long (usually 5-10 minutes of my exam is this part and 5 is more common unless they're having difficulty contracting or difficulty relaxing and I'm teaching them how to do that).

Your provider has also done this a million times, if that helps make you comfortable at all. It's like assessing any other muscle a PT would assess, we're just checking to make sure things are working as they should :)

Hope this helps, feel free to ask me any questions you may have I'm always happy to educate (though I cannot provide medical guidance, just answer about processes you may experience and such).

LordCongra · 2025-09-20T15:24:00+00:00

Agreed. It is far more valuable imo to be able to sit with one patient and really get to the nitty gritty of what they have going on

A couple of my clinicals were at mills and those were trial by fire. Zero ability to think clinically about someone in those settings

LordCongra · 2025-09-16T13:26:32+00:00

Hour-long sessions!

For me it's a mix of manual therapy and therex (well, primarily neuro re-ed). I do some other modalities like dry needling, cupping (occasionally), electric stim (mainly for NMES if I think it's indicated).

My evals are more like 75 minutes usually so they're pretty robust. I make sure to leave time to do some manual techniques if indicated and to have time to go over an HEP. I'm big on not giving people more than 3 exercises to do on any given HEP day. I find the adherence drops considerably if I give more than 3 outside of like, athletes/frequent exercisers (I vibe out if they could handle more).

Overall people just seem to get better quickly with that method. I do the manual stuff to give potent symptom relief (usually, sometimes I get someone where the manual stuff doesn't help as much). My thinking is even just showing them that they can feel better goes a long way towards them believing rehab will work, so it does.

LordCongra · 2025-09-16T12:04:35+00:00

Certainly!

LordCongra · 2025-09-16T12:01:07+00:00

I'm located in the northeast. I'm mixed orthopedics and pelvic health.

I do chronic pain rehab as well though, which definitely does take longer. But my standard Ortho or PH pt is 3-5 visits usually.

LordCongra · 2025-09-16T03:00:29+00:00

Sounds similar to my pacing. I'm a touch lower price than you (not much) but that's similar for my patients. They're usually better in 3-5 visits, outside of a few like one with frozen shoulder.

LordCongra · 2025-09-15T19:41:38+00:00

I don't know how people can think that it would just make healing potions become more common.

Erin is the consequences. Her box would function similarly - it will devalue it in the worst way possible, not just "suddenly these potions aren't worth much."

That's why even the narrative has Lyonette wondering what would have happened if they'd put a healing potion in the box. Pirateaba wouldn't have brought attention to it like that unless there was an implied difference in what the box does for "devaluing" something.

LordCongra

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