By: Chad E Cook PT, PhD, FAPTA
Background: Recently, I appeared as a guest on the Futureproof podcast, hosted by two brilliant, forward‑thinking leaders, Alex Bendersky and Dana Strauss. In Episode 31, released on May 25th, 2026, we explored why describing physical therapy as a movement profession feels increasingly limiting and fails to capture the full scope of what we do.
When the hosts asked me for a better description of our profession, I offered that we were a Swiss Army Knife profession, a field where physical therapists do a little bit of everything. While the analogy wasn’t wrong, I left the conversation feeling that my answer lacked depth. Listening back after the episode dropped only confirmed it: calling ourselves a Swiss Army Knife may be accurate, but it isn’t especially creative, nor does it serve as a compelling public‑facing identity for who we are and what we contribute. It makes us sound utilitarian, which isn’t bad but is sort of “meh”.
An epiphany: Sometimes the most meaningful insights come from the places and people you’d least expect. Let me step back for a moment and set the stage.
My oldest son and I are renovating a 50-year-old townhouse in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We’ve done work like this before so we weren’t DYI rookies who were out of our league. This large project has been a lot of fun, a lot of hard work, and as one might expect with 50-year-old buildings, we’ve uncovered a lot of hidden challenges. Our “hidden challenge” was when we removed the downstairs half-bath vanity, including an archaic looking s-trap that was under the sink. Once removed, we noticed that the connecting pipe in the wall was at an impossible angle and that the diameter of the pipe was notably larger than those we’ve worked with previously.
In early June of 2026 (about a week after the podcast dropped), we decided we needed help and went to the local hardware store to speak with their plumbing specialist. He spent about 10 minutes hand-connecting multiple iterations of PVC pipes together, never quite identifying the combinations that we needed to replace the outdated s-trap with a modern p-trap. After 10 minutes, he gave up and said that they likely didn’t have the materials in stock and that we should call a plumber.
After previously spending $200 on a plumber who straightened a downspout in the upstairs bathroom, I was less than enthusiastic about bringing in another plumber. Instead, I rummaged around the hardware store for another five minutes, pulling together parts from plumbing, lawn and garden, and from the grilling section (oddly enough), and Frankenstein’d together a version of a modern p-trap. When I showed the plumbing specialist at the hardware store, he was impressed and said it should work (it did). He then turned to my son and asked “Is he an engineer”?
Before I can answer, my son, who is not a medical professional and currently works at Trader Joe’s said “He is actually……He is a human engineer”.
Physical Therapists are Human Engineers: Upon reflection, in my 36 years as a PT, calling us Human engineers might be the most accurate way I’ve ever heard someone describe what we do. In fact, like mechanical engineers, we do specialize in “movement”.
But we also focus on inflammation and metabolism like a chemical engineer. We modify and refine human behaviors, similarly to a system’s engineer. We focus on neuromuscular activation like an electrical engineer. Like a software engineer, we address motor learning and neuro reprogramming. Like an industrial engineer, we emphasize ergonomics and efficient workflows. Like a materials engineer, we address tissue healing & load tolerance. And finally, like a civil engineer, we help create an environmental infrastructure that allows people to thrive.
Calling us “human engineers” is not meant to be disrespectful to those who indicate that we are movement experts, because we are movement experts. However, we are so much more. It’s my hope that the additional areas we are experts at don’t get lost in such a singular description.
Upon additional reflection, maybe I should have had my son on that podcast.
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