When it comes to their role within the clinic, physical therapy technicians wear a lot of different hats. They greet and accompany patients to the treatment area, help get them started with their therapy program, guide patients through exercises, assist with various measurements and modalities, order supplies, keep the clinic clean and organized, and much more! Additionally, they assist with various administrative duties such as scheduling, answering phones, and maintaining patient records.
Techs are the conduit between a patient and a therapist. Not only do they help relay instructions and information from the therapist to the patient, they also relay information and feedback from the patient to the therapist. Without the hard work of our technicians, our patients would not be able to receive the best care possible!
Spooner Physical Therapy technicians are enthusiastic, dedicated, and go on to do great things! Just take a gander at our company. We have multiple physical therapists, FIT Coordinators, and members of our Headquarters team that were Spooner techs at some point in their professional journey.
We reached out to a handful of current and former Spooner Physical Therapy technicians to discover some of their favorite memories, biggest challenges, and the best parts about being a tech.
When you reflect on your time as a physical therapy tech, what memories stand out the most?
“When I think about my favorite memories as a tech, I think about my favorite patients, and one special one in particular. This patient will always hold a place in my heart and I still think about her often. She was so sweet and hardworking and made my day every time she was on our schedule. I even have various little items around my house that she would bring me that had made her think of me or she had made for me. I’ve had many other patients that have left a mark before, but she was one of my all-time favorites. It’s those connections with patients that make me look back fondly on my time as a tech. You get to know a lot of really special people.” – Cheyenne Masters, former Lead Tech at Spooner Biltmore, current FIT Coordinator and Administrative Support Specialist
“Treats! My gosh, the treats! Our patients were so nice, and would often bring in doughnuts, breakfast burritos, coffee, and all sorts of delicious foods for the entire staff. In addition to the treats, patients were just so giving in general. I remember I had this a goal of trying out a new hobby every month, and for one of the months, I wanted to try out mountain biking. I was explaining this to one of our patients at the time, and she offered to lend me her bike for the entire month so I didn’t have to stress about renting or purchasing one on my own.” – Heather Heitzman, former Lead Tech at Spooner Mesa Gateway, East Chandler, and Ahwatukee. She now works as our Human Resources Benefits Coordinator
“I have many memories that come to mind over my 5 years as a tech. There was one patient that truly changed my life. I had the pleasure of working with him in both hand and physical therapy, and got to know him and his wife very well. He suffered from Parkinson’s disease, but always came into the clinic with a smile. Him and I bonded over movies, food, and our love of horses. Getting him to achieve new goals each time we met was extremely rewarding and observing his zeal for life, even through his hardship, encouraged me.” – Haley Schlotzhauer, current Lead Tech at Spooner Scottsdale
What are some of the challenges you dealt with and had to overcome as a physical therapy technician?
“When I first started in the clinic, I was much more reserved and quiet. It took a while for me to come out of my shell. Luckily, I worked with a good group of people who encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone. I had to gain confidence in myself have and the authoritativeness to tell people how to do things. I also had to learn how to make people feel comfortable when they walked through the door. New patients don’t know you, so you have to learn how to get people to open up and trust in you. Because everyone is so different, you have to understand how to adapt your approach to meet people where they are in their PT journey.” – Heather
“The most challenging thing I’ve ever dealt with was having limited techs during the Covid-19 pandemic. Assisting with patient care for 13 therapists with only the help of one other tech was rough. However, we were able to get creative with our scheduling and multitasking, while ensuring safety AND hiding how stressed we were. Between the techs, therapists, and front office staff, we really had to ensure we maximized communication with each other.” – Haley
“Being a tech is hard work, with lots of multitasking, and when you have a patient who is having a hard time, it’s takes that extra bit of effort to make them feel more comfortable. I had to learn how to stay positive and give patients the best possible experience, even when they weren’t having the best of days. I constantly had to remind myself to not take things personally. With that being said, no matter how bad a day a patient was having, we almost always were able to win them over.” – Cheyenne
“At first, my biggest challenge was simply learning all the different skills you need to have as a tech. I remember a therapist asking me if I can take a patient through “bilateral shoulder external rotation,” and I could have sworn he was speaking some form of Latin. Not only was I trying to learn all these different exercises, modalities, and anatomical terms, but I was also trying to figure out how to teach and demonstrate all this to patients in a way that was comprehendible and fun. After I had been a tech for several years, the struggle was keeping patients engaged and ensuring they were receiving the best experience I could provide. It can be tempting to go on auto-pilot and coast through the day, but I tried my best to find new things to learn and more ways to help people.” – Trent
What is/was your favorite things about being a tech?
“One of my favorite things about being a tech was being able to feel I made an impact on people’s recovery! Seeing patients on their first day and on their last was such an incredible feeling of accomplishment and pride in knowing that I helped them achieve their goals! Another thing I loved was reminding people of their accomplishments when they would hit a roadblock and get discouraged. It was always cool to have them realize how far they’d actually come since starting and renew their drive. And finally, my favorite part of being a tech was working with my therapist, Nick! We made an awesome PT/Tech team during our 4 years together and I learned so much from working with him!” – Cheyenne
“Being a tech was super fun! I loved getting to build relationships with patients and have light-hearted conversations with them all day. I loved getting to be creative and make exercises and other aspects of physical therapy more fun, exciting, and interesting. It was enjoyable working in a cool and relaxed environment where I got to have a good time and make a difference with patients and coworkers.” – Heather
“My favorite parts about being a tech were the relationships and bonds that I got to form with patients and my coworkers! Because you’re with the same patients, often 2 to 3 times a week, you really start to understand and care about each other. Just as I’d be following up with patients about their health and what they did over the weekend; they’d be asking me how my wife was doing, how my trip to the dog groomers went, or how I did on one of my college exams. I was invested in them and their success, and I feel like they were equally invested in mine. Looking back at all the years I spent as a PT tech, I can honestly say I never had a bad day working at the clinic.” – Trent
“My FAVORITE part about being a tech has always been spending time with patients. I love watching their progress each week and getting to create relationships with them. Also, therapists I’ve had the pleasure to work with challenge my thinking each day and have set the standard of the kind of PT I want to be in the near future. As a tech, we spend so much time with our patients and get the opportunity to help them achieve. Whether through a smile or an overexaggerated hello, I have found ways to encourage the patients and make lifelong memories.” – Haley
Shoutout to all our Spooner techs for their continued dedication and hard work! Next time you find yourself in one of our clinics, make sure you give them a big thanks for everything they do! If you’re interested in joining the Spooner Physical Therapy team as a physical therapy technician visit our open positions page here.
If you’re interested in scheduling an appointment or complimentary movement screen with our Spooner team, click here.