Welcome back to “Life as a PT” guys!

Let’s go ahead meet our next guest: Dr. Will Boyd, PT, DPT!

How did you decide that you wanted to pursue a career in physical therapy?

It took me a really long time and a roundabout path to finding physical therapy as a career path. I studied International Studies and Spanish in college and had no idea what I would do once I graduated. Luckily, I had an opportunity after I graduated to teach English in Spain and while I was there I decided the next logical step for me would be to take the LSAT and apply to Law School. I would spend my evenings after teaching, studying at a local library, and after a few months I felt extremely stressed out and unhealthy spending so much of my time sitting at a desk. It hit me at some point that if I became a lawyer, most of my days would be hunched over a desk, reading contracts or writing reports. I had this vision of myself gaining weight and not finding time to exercise, which had always been a priority in my life. So one day I turned to Google and started searching things like “What should I do with my life?”, “What job should I have?”, and “What line of work does my personality match with?”. Eventually I started taking personality tests and did my research on the types of jobs these searches led me to. One of those was physical therapy and even though I had hated science as a kid, I eventually made a decision to leave my job teaching English in Spain early, move back in with my parents, and start taking the pre-requisites needed to get into physical therapy school.

What was your favorite part of PT school?

My favorite part of PT school was definitely the friendships that I made with my classmates. To be completely transparent, I didn’t really feel inspired by the environment created by my program, but I did feel inspired by the like-minded and hard-working people in my class. In PT school you spend so much time with a small group of people that you can’t avoid building bonds with them and I was really lucky to find an incredible group of young people who wanted to improve themselves.

What type of setting do you work in/What does a typical day look like?

I currently work as a home health physical therapist. I graduated in December of 2016 and started working in home health beginning in April of 2017 as my first physical therapy job. My day typically involves driving around the city of Pittsburgh and treating 6 patients between 9am-5pm. I usually get home some time between 4-5pm depending on the schedule for the day and then spend 1-2 hours doing documentation.

What is your favorite thing about the PT profession/your job?

My favorite thing about my job is that I get to spend almost an hour with my patients and I get to help them regain independence with a lot of things that we take for granted on a daily basis. I also really love that my patient population is typically well over 50 years old and I get to hear their stories. It’s amazing to connect with people who have lived full lives and to get to hear their perspectives on life.

What advice do you have for pre-PT or current DPT students?

The best advice I could give to a pre-PT or current DPT student is to start reaching out and connecting with leaders in the field. There is so much more that you can do with your degree than be a traditional clinician. Through starting a podcast as a 3rd year student, I was able to build relationships with people in the field who have gone on to shape the way I view our profession and to help me realize my potential outside of clinical work. I would begin following the likes of Jeff Moore, Mike Eisenhart, The Institute of Clinical Excellence, and Greg Todd on social media. They are some of the most inspiring leaders in our field and are impacting people’s lives beyond the clinic.

I am super glad that Will has told us a little about his transition into the physical therapy profession, and his life as a therapist. You can continue to connect with Will through his website, or on Instagram @w_c_boyd. If you would like to hear more from Will, check out his awesome podcasts: The Knowbodies Podcast and the Breaking Student Debt Podcast!

I hope that y’all have been enjoying this series so far! If you are a practicing PT and would like to be featured in my next post (or if you know any PTs that would be interested), feel free to email me at thecurlyclinician@gmail.com! If you missed the last “Life as a PT” post, don’t forget to check that out! Stay tuned to see who will be featured next!