Timing and Access in Musculoskeletal Care: Early Physical Therapy After Work Injury and Hybrid Telehealth for Rural Knee Osteoarthritis

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who treat work-related musculoskeletal injuries, knee osteoarthritis, or patients who have trouble getting to a clinic, and who want a plain-language account of what the current evidence on timing and telehealth access actually supports.

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in outpatient orthopedics, occupational health, rural and community practice, and hospital-based rehabilitation departments. Physical therapist assistants may take this course; the material describes the work they carry out under the direction and supervision of a physical therapist.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

This course is based on the following two peer-reviewed articles:

Morgan M, Shinost C, Mendez S, Klose J, Lee G, Forte R, Lane T, Klinker M. The effect of early physical therapy intervention on case duration and physical therapy visits in acute work-related musculoskeletal injuries across body regions: A retrospective cohort study. JOSPT Open. 2025;3(3):333-353. doi:10.2519/josptopen.2025.0135

Bove AM, Zavacky EN, Zeleznik H, Bise CG, Patterson CG, Parmanto B, Fitzgerald GK. Rural Access to Physical Therapy for Osteoarthritis Rehabilitation (RAPTOR): A Pilot Feasibility Study. JOSPT Open. 2026;4(1):61-68. doi:10.2519/josptopen.2025.0167

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe what the retrospective cohort of 83,846 work-related musculoskeletal cases reported about days from injury to the first physical therapy visit, median case duration, and the number of physical therapy visits.
2. State what the RAPTOR pilot feasibility study reported about recruitment, attendance, satisfaction, safety, and functional change in rural adults with knee osteoarthritis.
3. Distinguish what a retrospective cohort can support about earlier care from what a single-arm pilot can support about telehealth access, and explain why neither design answers the question of cause or effectiveness.

1. Start Here: How to Use This Course
2. Part One: Early Physical Therapy After Work-Related Musculoskeletal Injury
3. Who Was in the Occupational Health Cohort
4. How the Cohort Was Assembled and What Was Counted
5. Case Duration and Visit Totals by Timing of the First Visit
6. What This Cohort Can and Cannot Establish
7. Part Two: Hybrid In-Person and Telehealth Physical Therapy for Rural Knee Osteoarthritis
8. Who Took Part in the Rural Knee Osteoarthritis Pilot
9. How the Hybrid Program Was Delivered and Measured
10. Feasibility, Satisfaction, and Functional Change
11. What a Single-Arm Pilot Can and Cannot Establish
12. Bringing It Together
13. Where the Two Studies Point in the Same Direction
14. Where They Diverge and Which Paper Reported What
15. Timing, Access, and How These Services Are Documented and Justified
16. Questions the Two Papers Leave Open
17. Key Takeaways
18. Post-Test and Course Evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 1.0 contact hour (60 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. Morgan M, Shinost C, Mendez S, Klose J, Lee G, Forte R, Lane T, Klinker M. The effect of early physical therapy intervention on case duration and physical therapy visits in acute work-related musculoskeletal injuries across body regions: A retrospective cohort study. JOSPT Open. 2025;3(3):333-353. doi:10.2519/josptopen.2025.0135
2. Bove AM, Zavacky EN, Zeleznik H, Bise CG, Patterson CG, Parmanto B, Fitzgerald GK. Rural Access to Physical Therapy for Osteoarthritis Rehabilitation (RAPTOR): A Pilot Feasibility Study. JOSPT Open. 2026;4(1):61-68. doi:10.2519/josptopen.2025.0167