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Sports Physical Therapy Residency Program

Our Mission

Our mission is to develop and graduate practitioners who by virtue of their critical thinking ability, clinical skills, diagnostic competence, and ethical standards are committed to promoting the optimum health and function of their clients and who will serve the larger society and profession through teaching, administration and research.

We have set the following goals for our residents to help us achieve our mission:

  • Appropriately and efficiently manages the sports injuries of active individuals from acute injury through return to play
  • Capably and willingly teach other physical therapists as well as physicians, trainers, coaches, athletes and parents the fundamentals of injury prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of the athlete
  • Understand the special considerations in physiological changes, medical conditions and psychosocial situations that occur with athletes
  • Will be a leader in managing change and improving healthcare systems for active individuals and athletes
  • Critically evaluates, applies and produces quality research in sports physical therapy
  • Successfully pass the ABPTS Sports Specialist Certification Examination

What Makes Our Program Unique

With Duke’s Sports Residency, you’ll be exposed to a multidisciplinary environment to further your education in and understanding of the complexities of sports injuries and rehab. As part of this learning environment, you’ll work closely with mentors, fellow physical therapy staff and the multi-disciplinary Duke Sports Medicine team in various aspects including patient care, sports medicine conferences, surgical observation and cadaver labs.

In addition to our interdisciplinary team, you’ll have also have access to Duke Sports Medicine’s state-of-the-art facilities to facilitate your learning. These facilities include our sports performance equipment, training rooms, weight room and dynamic wearable equipment.

Highlights of Our Program

Throughout the year of your residency, you can expect many experiences and opportunities to help you on your way to becoming an excellent sports physical therapist. You’ll receive ample direct 1:1 clinical mentoring time by our dual credentialed mentors, while also providing 30 hours of patient care in Duke’s Sports Physical Therapy clinic. 

Beyond the clinic, you’ll provide practice and game coverage to local high school, club and community athletes. Through this outreach, you’ll work with fellow physical therapists, athletic training staff and Duke Sports Medicine staff to give much-needed physical therapy expertise to our local athletes while also gaining experience in how to manage acute sports injuries.

Some other highlights of the Duke Sports Residency include:

  • Monthly leadership discussions with the Duke D1 Sports Fellow and other practitioners
  • Inter-residency and fellow teleconferences
  • Research opportunities and conference presentations
  • Weekly didactic presentations

How to Apply

Anyone with a strong desire to work in sports physical therapy should apply. Applicants must be a licensed physical therapist and possess at least one of the following: a current ATC designation, a current license as an EMT, or certification as an Emergency Responder.

Applications open October 1st, 2023. Interested individuals can fill out an application via RF-PTCAS to apply.  All applications for the 2024 – 2025 residency are due by December 1, 2023. The residency will run for one year from mid-July.

Financial Information

Click here to see the ABPTRFE Program Financial Fact Sheet for this program.