Branching out from Orthopedics

Volume 18 July 28, 2025

From the Editor

We’ve seen an almost 16% increase in the amount of research being pumped out in regards to physical therapy and AI (science direct article linked at the bottom). Though most of this has been focused in the orthopedic side of things this article begins to look into the neuro applications for AI as well, specifically vestibular and Parkinson’s Disease.

We also get a statement from the CEO of ChatGPT, Sam Altman, looking at area’s where he believes AI will have the largest impact. Spoiler alert, healthcare is mentioned more than once.

Enjoy the article and have a great week!

This Week's Highlights

AI and the Future of Work: A Healthcare Perspective

A new report from OpenAI and OpenResearch analyzes AI’s economic impacts across jobs. Healthcare tops the list for AI exposure—especially in documentation, communication, and decision support. Physical therapists are among the roles likely to benefit rather than be replaced. The authors envision a future of collaborative intelligence: human expertise enhanced, not erased, by AI. Strategic upskilling and responsible rollout are emphasized.

Read the full article (4 min)

Why this matters for PTs:
Its good to hear from the heads of these companies rehab professionals are not going to be replaced anytime soon. The goal of these technologies is to enhance, not replace. There is benefit to having a copilot listening into patient encounters and surfing the web for the latest data and research to give you real time treatment ideas.

AI Supercharges Digital MSK Startups

Digital PT startups like Hinge Health and Sword Health are using AI to stretch clinician time and scale care. Hinge claims a 95% time reduction in certain workflows, while Sword aims to expand therapist caseloads from 300 to 700 via AI-driven triage, messaging, and home exercise support. The result? Fewer routine tasks for humans, and more AI-guided delivery of care-at-scale.

Read the full article (5 min)

Why this matters for PTs:
I know the numbers are a bit shocking at first, increasing caseloads to 200 people when most rehab professionals I talk to feel like they’re already stretched thin. With an anticipated reduction in physical therapists by 3% annually over the next 5 years, this could very soon become a reality. Companies are looking at ways to extend the reach of professionals, extending the number of patients each can work with.

Exercise Specialists Weigh In on Robot-Led PT for Parkinson’s

Researchers trialed a robotic PT system designed for Parkinson's care. Eleven exercise specialists evaluated it, noting strong patient engagement but also areas needing work—like more natural feedback and ease-of-use. While not clinic-ready yet, it marks progress toward robots playing a supportive role in long-term care.

Read the full article (6 min)

Why this matters for PTs:
Looking again at extending reach this study implements a way to continue to help people beyond the clinic. Neuro rehab has traditionally been a very personalized one-on-one treatment setting, this would allow patients to continue to work outside of time with therapists. These tools might boost adherence and access, if designed with therapist input.

LLMs Tested for Vestibular Rehab Support

A pilot study explored whether large language models (LLMs) like GPT could assist vestibular rehab. They handled simple queries and summaries well, but struggled with complex logic and planning. Researchers called for specialty-specific training and strong validation before clinical use. The results demonstrated ChatGPT 4.0 was superior to Google’s Gemini scoring 70% and 60% respectively on a vestibular knowledge test.

Read the full article (4 min)

Why this matters for PTs:
Vestibular therapy seems in line with what we’ve read in previous weeks. AI excels at clinical knowledge but struggles with clinical reasoning. With recent advancement in LLM “thinking” strategies I wouldn’t be surprised to see AI better implementing clinical reasoning in the next 7 months.

What’s New in ManagePT

Inpatient and Neuro Templates:

The team at ManagePT realizes not all physical therapy is the same. This can be said for patient populations and documentation systems. The goal of the company is to help everyone document faster, decrease administrative burden, and improve HEP adherence. With this in mind we are excited to announce the roll out of new Neuro and Inpatient based templates.

Following discussions with clinicians in these settings these systems now integrate with documentation systems in these settings. Click below and check it out!

Bonus Reads

• ScienceDirect: "Bibliometric analysis of AI in physiotherapy" — Global trends show 15.9% annual growth in AI-PT research. Movement analysis and predictive modeling are leading the charge.

• HealthTech Pulse Podcast: Episode 132 on AI safety in outpatient care design.