TheOncoPT Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Like it or not, people with cancer are here to stay.  This means every rehab professional *MUST* be ready to treat them, because we will see them at some point in our career.   No matter the setting.   No matter the specialty.   No matter what. Unfortunately, many rehab pros don’t know the first thing to do when an oncology patient pops up on their schedule.  Enter the Cancer Basi...

Send us Fan Mail While sarcomas make up less than 1% of all cancer diagnoses, their impact is astronomically large. So even though these diagnoses are rare, you WILL encounter these patients at least once in your OncoPT career.   We'd better be prepared then. Lucky for us, Dr. Jen Bernstein is a board certified oncologic clinical specialist who specializes in pediatric oncology, especially os...

Send us Fan Mail Osteosarcoma is now commonly treated with chemotherapy & surgery, including rotationplasty. I have never seen a rotationplasty in real life...YET. I say yet, because I fully expect we will see one at some point in our careers. So we better prepare for that day. While there's a lot of details about a rotationplasty, today's episode covers 5 basic concepts that you abs...

Send us Fan Mail When we first start in oncology physical therapy, it can be easy to feel behind. Like we don't know enough, that we can't learn fast enough to truly help our patients.  In the quest to becoming an expert clinician, we sometimes miss out on the TRULY important lessons that make us the best PT possible.  In today's episode, Elise guides you through the lessons PT scho...

Send us Fan Mail Taking a chance on a new opportunity is often scary: what if we mess up?  What if it doesn't work out? But we should also ask ourselves: what if everything works out better than we imagined? Dr. Tori Crook is BACK on the podcast to recap how her latest big scary opportunity went: Camp Watchme 2022. She shares how nervous she was on the way to camp, what she learned that she&a...

Send us Fan Mail July is sarcoma & bone tumor awareness month.  While sarcomas only make up ~1% of total cancer diagnoses, osteosarcomas disproportionately affect young individuals more & can contribute to a significant amount of functional mobility issues. We as physical therapists must understand what osteosarcoma is, how it’s treated, & how it thus affects our patients so we’re prep...

Send us Fan Mail While osteosarcomas are relatively rare, their impact on a person's functional mobility can be substantial. Side effects from osteosarcoma treatment don't just dissipate once treatment finishes.  In fact, some side effects last for the rest of the patient's life. This is even more significant when we consider that many of these patients are young & still develop...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes we encounter really uncomfortable conversation topics in oncology physical therapy: pee, poop, sex, stomas, death…  It may be tempting to avoid these, but that’s actually the worst thing we can do as OncoPTs. So what are we supposed to do instead?  Lean into them.  Have the conversations.  Open the door for openness & honesty with your patients. Because if you’re not...

Send us Fan Mail One of the biggest questions we encounter when pursuing our dream career is HOW?  How do I get patients to know about me & what I do?  How do I get practitioners to refer their patients to me?  How am I going to make this work?   While a lot of us get tripped up on the hows, this episode is a great example of someone who turned the hows into nows.   Rosy Bojorquez is a PT who...

Send us Fan Mail I’m excited to share with you a recording of a recent guest speaking opportunity I had with the Duke University DPT Oncology SIG (special interest group) meeting. These students were amazing and it was so cool to get to talk with future oncoPTs about what they want to do, what the field looks like, and then reflect on what's changed over the last couple of years. In this Q&am...

Send us Fan Mail It’s officially summer, which means it’s time again for one of my favorite things: Camp Watchme! Camp Watchme is the pediatric lymphedema summer camp here in the US, & I’m so excited to be going back this year. To celebrate my favorite summer camp ever, I'm interviewing Dr. Tori Crook on the podcast.  She’s a first time CLT volunteer at camp & she’s giving her perspec...

Send us Fan Mail Physical therapist, clinic owner, & philanthropist Gaby Miller joins Elise for a candid & vulnerable conversation about the ups & downs of cancer rehab, losing patients, clinic ownership, pivoting when a dream doesn't pan out exactly as planned, & the importance of taking care of yourself.  Because if we don't take care of ourself, we can't take care...

Send us Fan Mail "You're young & healthy." This was a quote that I heard time & time again with my young patients. If they're so young & healthy, then why do they have cancer? As frustrating as that may be for us to hear, imagine hearing that as a patient. For Shauna O'Brien of the Too Young For This Shit Podcast, this is her reality.  Shauna was diagnosed with...

Send us Fan Mail Compression bras are a mainstay of post-breast surgery care.  But there's a lot of nuances that every OncoPT should know about. For example, sports bras are NOT the same as compression bras - that's a rookie mistake I made again & again. Rocky Storm of PrairieWear is on the podcast today to discuss what makes a great compression bra, how patients benefit from their u...

Send us Fan Mail Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most common symptoms after a cancer diagnosis. Patients experience reduced ability to carry out daily activities and often experience loss of motivation. As soon as patients are diagnosed with cancer, we should be screening patients for side effects, including cancer-related fatigue. We must then continue monitoring for symptoms throughout trea...

Send us Fan Mail Side effects are sometimes glossed over as buzzwords, and we tend to ignore that fact. As a result, we may actually be harming our patients and underestimating the effects on their independence and mobility. Cancer related fatigue is probably the most common impairment cancer survivors experience. An estimated 80% of survivors suffer from cancer-related fatigue! As defined by the...

Send us Fan Mail While PTs get worked up about the oncology specialist exam, they actually tend to forget the biggest hurdle to taking the exam: submitting their application. In this workshop replay, I covered the basics of the ABPTS application &  took students through several exercises that helped them identify the best patient for them to write a case report on. Here's what I recommend...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we are joined by Dr. Susan Maltser, DO. She has written one of my favorite articles, A Focused Review of Safety Considerations in Cancer Rehabilitation , which you'll definitely want to save & reference frequently.  This article is the Bible of Basics when it comes to being safe with people who have or who have had cancer. We are focusing on what safety conside...

Send us Fan Mail The ABPTS (American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties) oncology exam is an amazing opportunity to deepen your knowledge of oncologic physical therapy, but it's not for everybody. In fact, there's some very important reasons why you shouldn't take the exam. Today, we're exploring why you should or should not take the ABPTS Exam, plus the steps you need to ap...

Send us Fan Mail It's kind of crazy to look back on the small decisions that ultimately led us to where we are today.  For Dr. Jen Bernstein, PT, she credits one major choice for eventually leading her to the world of pediatric oncology.   Jen talks about how she navigated those first months of pediatric oncology & how she continues to challenge herself (& her patients).  If you'...

Send us Fan Mail Communication is an essential skill for every researcher & PT.  Many people think that they can share information in a formal manner, like a lecture, but they neglect the fact that informal conversations can actually provide a better understanding of the research. In fact, today's guest Jimmy McKay believes that it's our duty to do so. Researchers and clinicians alik...

Send us Fan Mail Cancer survivors are often overwhelmed when their support teams disappear after they ring the bell. Yet the long-term side effects, fears, and lifestyle care still need to be addressed. On today's show, I had the honor of bringing a registered dietician, Dr. Stacy Roberts, to the show to share with us what she has learned from working with the cancer community & what we n...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Mary Lou Galantino, PT and Dr. David Kietrys, PT are joining me today to discuss lessons they have learned from the HIV pandemic, the long-term COVID-19 pandemic and oncology physical therapy.  Due to the many similarities between the current COVID-19 pandemic and the HIV pandemic, this conversation could not have taken place at a better time.  If you want a structured way to...

Send us Fan Mail The last couple of years have taught us that the old model of physical therapy is not effective. By begging physicians for referrals, battling with insurance companies to have our sessions covered, only to have patients slip through the cracks, we aren't helping anyone. It certainly isn't helping our profession. In order to actually assist patients, a different approach...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Kalie Heftka, PT of Dr. Reams Concierge PT joins me to talk about opening her own cash-based oncology & lymphedema practice. People don't talk about the early stages of opening a private practice or the challenges of building a business from scratch. We're having a real raw conversation about what it's been like for Dr. Heftka to open her own practice. Grab...