Blog

I’ve often opined about the lack of Physical Therapist presence in the blogosphere.  Earlier this month I issued this challenge and a call for PT’s to become bloggers. 

I’m happy to report that a few took up the challenge and we now have more than 3 PT-penned weblogs!  No small feat, as committing to a solid blog is a significant undertaking.  You need to be brave enough to write what others might see, tech-savvy enough to design a nice page, and dedicated enough to post regularly.

Now, before I offer an introduction to your PT-penned blogs, I must issue another call to action.  You see, blogs need readers.  More than that, they need subscribers.  Thousands of people read the Evidence in Motion blog, but surprising few have subscribed to these other PT related blogs.  My call to action then becomes a call for you to go visit these blogs, subscribe to the feed (or e-mail subscription if you must) and support your hard-working, brave colleagues!

As an aside, you will notice that all these blogs are written by men, leaving Rachael Lowe’s Physiospot Blogs as still the only one hosted by a woman (although we should point out Selena Horner’s posts on EIM) in this largely female profession.  Ladies:  Join in!   

Check em out!

 

Physical Therapist Rover

A student-penned blog written by Johnny May.  This blog is a well-written glimpse inside the profession from a student’s perspective.  But you may find Johnny is more than a student, he’s an entertainer as well.

 

 

Evidence Based Rehab

Written by Jason Harris, who should be complimented for his use of the new BPR3 blogging standard when presenting posts on peer-reviewed research.

 

The Physical Therapy Etcetera Blog

Mark Schwall wants to tell you about Zotero, among other physical therapy related news and topics, etc.

 

So there you have it.  If anyone needs any blogging advice, I’m always available.  Contact info can be found near my bio.

ERIC

Congratulations to PT Journal for finally getting an RSS feed on their website!!!  Content syndication, podcasts, iTunes subscribe-ability, debates, wow!  These simple, yet totally useful add-ons to the website have really elevated the quality of the journal’s website and now allows readers to have a richer experience during their visits and learn about new evidence in a timely, "push" format. 

For those not in the know…the secret is the little RSS icon in the image above.  What’s RSS?  Find out here.

Now, on to JOSPT…. 

ERIC

I must admit, I finished 2007 a little run down.  Never fear, a voyage to my ancestral home has left me recharged and excited about the next few months.  If I thought it couldn’t get any better, yesterday I inherited an archival history of manual therapy texts.  Very cool.  Thank you, DR!

I also gave a talk yesterday at the First Annual Physical Therapy Educators Workshop, sponsored by the DPT Consortium of GA.  My topic was incorporating Web 2.0 concepts, namely syndicated content and collaborative software into teaching and personal learning.  Here is a handout I offered to the audience with some highlights and resources. 

A couple nights ago I was meeting with the Jessica King, who designs my blog and is working with the Evidence in Motion blog.  She told me that subscribers to the two physical therapy blogs were numerous, but with one problem.  Thousands subscribe via e-mail, less than 200 subscribe via the RSS feed.  From the reader’s perspective, it should be the opposite.  I wonder why this is so.

My resolution in 2008 is help figure out why.  It will be to offer resources for therapists to get more involved in web conversations and, most of all, to encourage more physical therapists to begin blogging.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of medical blogs penned by physicians, yet only a tiny few by PTs.

Consider this a call for physical therapists to become
blogger physical therapists.  Maybe we could even get a new credential out of it? Take a look at the handout to get us started.

Eric Robertson, PT, DPT, CBPT (certified blogging physical therapist)  Yeah, right!