Across New Mexico, people with pelvic floor disorders who need help managing pain and discomfort are on a months-long waiting list to see a specialized physical therapist.
To help address this growing need, The University of New Mexico Division of Physical Therapy recently announced a new residency program.
The UNM Women's Health Physical Therapy Residency Program, which was granted candidacy from American Board of Physical Therapy Fellowship and Residency Education (ABPTFRE) on June 3, is designed to provide further education to physical therapists interested in focused study of the practice of women’s and pelvic health.
There’s definitely a need for specialization in women’s health – and this residency takes it to that level now. We’re filling that niche.
“There’s definitely a need for specialization in women’s health – and this residency takes it to that level now,” said Adam Walsh, PT, DPT, OSC, SCS, an assistant professor in the Division of Physical Therapy. “We’re filling that niche.”
Residents in the 12-month, post-professional clinical and didactic educational program will receive specialized training in treating people with pelvic floor dysfunction and obstetrical health care needs, as well as other aspects of women’s health.
One of the main focuses of the program will have residents learning how to perform internal examinations, whereas most physical therapists only perform external examinations. Other aspects of the program include pregnancy and post-partum physical therapy, exercise physiology for gender health, and psychology and sociology of gender health.
“The program will encompass everything else a women’s health specialist will deal with,” Walsh said.
This isn’t the first residency program for the UNM Division of Physical Therapy. In October 2021, the Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Residency Program gained accreditation through ABPTFRE.
For us to add this – first to add orthopaedic and now women’s health – it was an extension of trying to offer a higher level of care. There’s a need in New Mexico for this and for physical therapists in general.
“For us to add this – first to add orthopaedics and now women’s health – it was an extension of trying to offer a higher level of care,” said division chief Beth Moody Jones, PT, DPT, EdD, MS. “There’s a need in New Mexico for this and for physical therapists in general.”
Over the years, Jones said, interest in women’s health has grown.
“In the course of my tenure here, women’s health has started to be recognized and wanted, so I started pushing my students towards wanting that in their careers,” she said.
The residency is unique in that UNM Hospital will provide the overall structure of the residency, and the Division of Physical Therapy will provide the classes. Residents will then be under contract and become an employee of an Albuquerque-area clinic throughout the duration of the residency.
Jones said there’s only one practicing women’s health certified physical therapist in Albuquerque – Tara Sanford, DPT, WCS – who will act as the residency program’s mentor.
The hope is that specialists will come out of the residency program wanting to be mentors for future residents, potentially growing the pool of women’s health physical therapists exponentially.
“It’s absolutely needed within our Albuquerque area. We don’t have enough of them,” Jones said. “So, we thought, if we build it, they will come. If we have more specialists, we have more mentors.”
The UNM Physical Therapy Program shared the news about the residency program on its Facebook page, where it already has dozens of likes and several comments and shares – a good indicator of the program’s potential popularity.
“These residencies are what makes people more employable, and it ups the game wherever they go to work,” Jones said. “But just like anything, you have to maintain that to be at the top.”
The application for the residency, which will begin in August, will open by June 18.