PT Professionals: Stop Limiting Yourself

AI, Advocacy, Autonomy, and Action

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Dana Prommel Strauss, Alex Bendersky & Cody Lee
May 19, 2025

We are excited to share that Episode Eleven of Future-Proof PT is published!

We thank you for being a subscriber and allowing us to communicate with you via email. We don’t take the privilege lightly!

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Here’s what’s new this week as we build Future Proof PT in public:

  • We keep working on refining and improving the audio of the podcast. I think we need some tutoring on Riverside to take it to the next level!

  • We added a more refined intro and outro specific to the episode

We keep learning as we produce our own episodes from scratch!

Planned: Create an intro and outro to use with all episodes.

About the episode 👇️ 

We catch up with Cody Lee, PT, DPT for Part Two of our conversation DPT. We debate the evolving landscape of physical therapy in a lively conversation you don’t want to miss. He’s a phenom!

In the episode, we explore the implications of direct access laws, the importance of grassroots advocacy, and the integration of AI in clinical practice. Our conversation highlights the tension within the profession regarding autonomy, risk, and responsibility, the need for standardized data collection, and the critical role of functional status in patient risk assessments.

We also call for broader inclusion of all licensed physical therapy professionals within the APTA, whether or not their primary employment at the moment is clinical or non-clinical. We also cover the importance of continuous learning, including but also beyond direct patient care, in a rapidly changing healthcare environment.

To accompany the episode, Cody wrote this value-packed article below. We hope you check it out! 👇️ 

Why the Best Leaders Step In Before They Feel Ready

By: Cody Lee, PT, DPT

Most people wait to lead until they feel ready. They wait for the title, the recognition, or the confidence.

But leadership doesn’t start with a title. It starts with a choice.

When the direct access bill started gaining momentum in Alabama, most of us in the clinic found out far too late. Patients we could have helped were stuck waiting for referrals. And worse, our voices weren’t even in the room. I was frustrated. But frustration without action is just a complaint.

So I stepped in.

Not because I had all the answers. Not because I was the most qualified. But because I refused to be someone who watched from the sidelines.

That decision taught me a lesson I keep coming back to:

You cannot influence what you’re unwilling to step into.

When I joined the Alabama APTA Membership Committee, I wasn’t an expert. I just saw a profession that needed more builders and fewer critics.

Later, during the direct access fight, I watched leadership unfold through postcards, patient stories, and clinic visits with local legislators. No microphones. No big stage. Just small acts that moved the mission forward.

One of those moments still sticks with me. A state legislator visited our clinic. One of our patients, in his district, had been delayed from receiving care for her recurrent vertigo. She needed PT. But she had to wait weeks just to get a referral. In the meantime, she fell and fractured her wrist. That story hit hard. And hearing it face-to-face changed how that legislator saw the issue. It wasn’t about policy. It was about people.

Leadership is not about being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about doing the kind of work that gets things done when no one’s watching.

Want to lead before you’re officially in charge? Try this:

  • Show Up and Solve: Pick a cause. Get involved. Make an impact where others stand by.

  • Lift the Load: Make someone’s day easier without being asked. That’s leadership in its purest form.

  • Turn Stories into Action: Policies are boring. Human stories create change. Use them.

  • Ask the Right Question: Not “What’s in it for me?” but “What’s missing, and how can I fix it?”

  • Celebrate Small Wins: Perfection is a myth. Progress is real. Keep moving.

That same mindset, stepping in before I felt ready, showed up again in patient care.

My first high-level ACL patient aiming to return to sport? I had no previous cases like his. I could have played it safe. But instead, I leaned in.

I built a research project in Claude AI, loaded up 20 protocols and articles, and started asking better questions.

I wasn’t trying to look smart. I was trying to lead better, serve with excellence, and give my patient the care he actually needed.

And that’s what leadership looks like, in politics, in practice, in your profession.

What’s Next

If you’re curious how I use AI as a clinical thinking partner, not just for documentation, but for clinical decisions, research synthesis, and patient education, my new course AI for PTs is now open for preorder.

If you’re in leadership or want to be, I’m also creating ChatGPT as Your Executive Coach, a micro-course designed to help you think better, lead sharper, and act with more clarity using AI.

Final Challenge

What are you waiting for because you don’t feel ready? What difference could you make if you stepped in now?

Keep refining. The future belongs to those who do the hard work today.

Here’s where you can find and follow Alex on Linked In.

Here’s where you can find and follow Dana on Linked In.

From the YouTube channel to the Podcast to community-only resources, we support the modern day physical therapist and other rehabilitation, allied health, and medical professionals who wants to get the most out of their clinical degree, experience, and expertise.