Sports Physical Therapy Residency

At Children's Hospital Colorado, we're excited to offer a comprehensive 13-month sports physical therapy residency to foster the development of clinicians interested in treating young athletes. Through this program, we provide a variety of clinical and didactic opportunities to give the resident experience caring for various athlete and patient populations.

2020 updates

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to defer the start of our first resident to July 2021. We have a resident selected to participate in our program for 2021-2022. We plan to begin the application and interview process for the 2022-2023 program year in February 2022. We thank you for your interest in our program and your understanding and patience in these uncharted times.  

In May 2020, we were granted candidacy status from the American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education (ABPTRFE). This status will remain until we are able to start our first cohort and undergo a site visit midway through the 2021-2022 program year. ABPTRFE will determine our accreditation after that. Therefore, we will remain in candidacy until that time.

Sports Physical Therapy Residency experience

Our mission is to develop leaders in sports physical therapy through collaborative interprofessional learning and clinical programming that includes:

• Progressing pediatric sports medicine research
• Teaching
• Advocacy
• Quality evidenced-based, patient-centered care

The sports physical therapy resident will primarily treat young athletes at two Children’s Colorado Sports Medicine Center locations. Most patients will be school and club sport athletes who are 12 years and older. The resident will also treat college-aged athletes and students at Regis University for seven hours per week. In all clinical settings, the resident will work alongside board-certified physical therapists in sports or orthopedic physical therapy.

The resident will work with highly trained athletic trainers and sports physical therapists for 200 hours of on-field event coverage. They will provide coverage for the following organizations:

• Local high schools
• Children’s Colorado partner organizations and clubs

In addition to a robust clinical experience, the program will offer a comprehensive didactic program with several different learning platforms. The program will meet all American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education (ABPTRFE) requirements and prepare the resident to sit for the board examination.