Orthopedic physical therapy residency
Our mission
The Corewell Health - West Michigan Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency Program mission is to develop specialty practice orthopedic physical therapists who improve the health of their communities by providing evidence-based, exceptional, and affordable care while guiding them to become leaders and educators of orthopedic clinical practice. The program will utilize continuous improvement and strategic initiatives to deliver a learning experience that is founded upon a current, evidence-based curriculum, mentored clinical practice, and scientific inquiry.
The Corewell Health - West Michigan Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency Program offers licensed physical therapists advanced training in orthopedics. The program focuses on enhancing clinical decision-making, utilizing advanced treatment strategies, and applying the latest evidence in outpatient orthopedic rehabilitation. Participants maintain a 32-hour per week clinic schedule gaining specialized orthopedic experience under the mentorship of senior clinical staff while rotating through four clinical sites gaining experience with a variety of patient demographics. The rigorous, evidence-based curriculum includes dedicated mentoring, interprofessional experiences in clinical and surgical settings, and opportunities to teach in partnership with Grand Valley State University's Doctor of Physical Therapy program. Participants engage in monthly journal club presentations and complete a capstone project on an orthopedic topic, presented in a grand rounds format.
The 53-week program prepares participants for the ABPTS Orthopedic Clinical Specialist Examination and begins the week before Labor Day each year.
The American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education (ABPTRFE) has granted the Corewell Health - West Michigan Orthopedic Physical Therapy Residency Program candidacy status. Candidacy status signifies satisfactory progress toward accreditation. Achieving candidacy status is not an indication that ABPTRFE will grant initial accreditation. Participants who graduate from a program in candidacy status are not deemed to have completed an accredited program.
Goals
- The program maintains sustainability through continuous curriculum review, process improvement measures, financial and strategic planning for program growth and development.
- The program maintains ABPTRFE accreditation.
- The program provides consistent, high quality clinical practice mentoring to all residents.
- The program enables the resident to demonstrate the proficiency in knowledge and skill required for specialist orthopedic physical therapy certification.
- The program provides the resident with a variety of high quality clinical and educational experiences throughout Corewell Health.
- The program encourages the resident’s continued progress toward leadership in orthopedic physical therapy excellence following graduation from the program.
Outcomes
- The resident will demonstrate accurate performance of all elements of the patient management model related to advanced orthopedic practice.
- The resident will demonstrate orthopedic expertise by acquiring, interpreting, integrating, and sharing evidence-based best practice in orthopedic physical therapy.
- The resident will demonstrate the critical reasoning skills necessary to successfully complete the orthopedic specialty exam.
- The resident will effectively communicate advanced orthopedic topics at a level appropriate for their audience (patients, peers, students, or other healthcare providers).
- The resident will demonstrate advanced skills in interprofessional collaboration at the local, state, site, or system level to optimally serve the members of their community impacted by orthopedic health conditions.
Total number of program graduates: One
Overall Program graduation rate: 100%
Percentage of program graduates who pass ABPTS Exam: To be published June 2025
The program will monitor graduates’ ongoing professional development, performance on the ABPTS Orthopaedic Specialist Exam, and their career roles for up to five years.
The program curriculum is comprised of two six-month units with each unit consisting of two clinical rotations. The first unit focuses on the lumbar spine, pelvis, and lower extremity. The second unit focuses on the cervical spine, thoracic spine, and upper extremity. Sequencing of the didactic curriculum, designated learning activities, and clinical patient care experiences starts with the axial skeleton and trunk, then progresses distally culminating with total limb integration by its completion.
Each unit is divided into two rotations providing residents the opportunity to treat these anatomical regions and their related health conditions in a varied and diverse patient population. This sequencing enables residents to continuously build upon their previous learning and clinical experiences.
The didactic component of the curriculum includes the Current Concepts of Orthopedic Physical Therapy, 5th edition published by AOPT, JOSPT Clinical Practice Guidelines, and select MedBridge knowledge tracks.
Experiential learning consists of independent patient care and mentoring. Residents receive a minimum of 200 hours of dedicated to one-to-one mentoring with clinical faculty over the duration of the program with 150 of these hours conducted in a patient-care setting. All program mentors are board-certified physical therapists who are content experts in their area of practice and have demonstrated a history of being a dedicated and quality clinical educator.
Other program learning experiences include:
- Journal club presentations and discussion.
- Interprofessional experiences with other health care providers in both clinic and procedural settings.
- Prepare, assist, and deliver orthopedic skill and technique presentation to entry-level DPT students in partnership with Grand Valley State University.
- Opportunities to participate with community-based activities offered by Corewell Health
- Capstone Presentation on an orthopedic topic of the resident’s choice
All residents must pass a cumulative written exam at the program’s conclusion and a live patient exam at the end of each rotation.
Anne Clancy, PT, DPT, CIMT, CCI
- Mentor
- Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
- 14+ years of orthopedic physical therapy experience
- Certified Integrated Manual Therapist
- Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
- DPT, Central Michigan University
Daren Johnson PT, MSPT
- Mentor
- Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
- 25+ years of orthopedic physical therapy experience
- MS PT, Grand Valley State University
Casey Stokes PT, DPT
- Mentor
- Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
- Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
- 10+ Years of orthopedic physical therapy experience
- USATF level 2 Certified Coach
- DPT, Central Michigan University
Gina Terhune PT, DPT
- Mentor
- Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
- 10+ years of orthopedic physical therapy experience
- DPT, Grand Valley State University
Nate Twietmeyer PT, DPT
- Mentor, Program Advisor
- Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics
- Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Sports
- 10+ years of orthopedic physical therapy experience
- DPT, Concordia University Wisconsin
Don Packard, PT, DPT
- Director of Clinical Rehab Practice, Corewell Health - West Michigan
- Program Director
David George, PT, MSPT
- Program Coordinator
- 20+ years of orthopedic physical therapy experience
- 15+ years as Site Coordinator of Clinical Education
- MS PT, Grand Valley State University
- Graduate of a CAPTE-accredited physical therapy program, or currently enrolled and in good standing in a DPT program with expected graduation date to enable to sit for the NPTE in July.
- Licensed or eligible to be licensed to practice physical therapy in the State of Michigan by the start of the program.
- Eligible for employment by Corewell Health.
- APTA and Orthopedic Section membership by the start of the program.
- Completed of application form
- Professional Resume
- Essay
- Professional letters of recommendation from the following:
- Physical therapist supervisor or clinical instructor.
- A faculty member or instructor from a CAPTE-accredited DPT program.
- A physical therapist, academic faculty member, or other professional that can speak to the applicant’s ability to succeed in the program.
For those with questions about our orthopedic physical therapy residency program, please email the Program Coordinator.
Application criteria
Learn more about how to apply and what you need to include in your application.