Course Description: This presentation will review health promotion and wellness and medical fitness prescription in the physical therapy setting and describe a “best practice” medical wellness model, to include the patient “handoff” from physical therapy to fitness professionals. A thorough overview of medical fitness will be provided, including how to differentiate underdosing and proper dosing; foundational principles of exercise and their relation to home exercise programs following patient discharge; an explanation of how to merge rehabilitation and strength and conditioning concepts; a description of a “best practice resistance training model for special populations; and how to properly vet fitness professionals. Participants will walk away more prepared to take on the physical therapy profession’s vision to optimize movement, and a better understanding of how to bridge the gap between physical therapy and medical fitness.

Learning Objectives:
• Review Health Promotion and Wellness in the physical therapy setting.
• Explain the process of patient handoff to the fitness professional.
• Define medical fitness within the context of the rehab-fitness continuum.
• Describe a best practice resistance training model for special populations.
• Illustrate how to properly vet fitness professionals.