Honoring Our Profession: Advancing Physical Therapy for Older Adults
Mike Billings, PT, DHSc, MS, CEEAA
President
October is National Physical Therapy Month — a time to celebrate our shared commitment to improving lives through movement, and to reflect on how far our profession has come, especially in the care of older adults, who make up the heart of Infinity Rehab’s mission.
When I began my career as a physical therapist 31 years ago, physical therapy for older adults was often focused on restoring basic mobility after injury or illness. The profession was still developing its research base, and standardized outcome measures were in their infancy. Today, we practice in a dramatically different landscape. The evidence for intensive, task-specific mobility training, fall prevention, balance retraining, and functional strength programs in older adults is robust and growing. Therapists now draw on decades of research to design programs that not only help older adults recover from illness or injury but also maintain independence, prevent decline, and thrive in their communities.
At Infinity Rehab, we have embraced these advances through our More Movement Matters model, standardized assessments across thousands of patient episodes, and a deep commitment to evidence-informed care. We know that mobility is central to successful aging — and our teams make that a reality every day.
But the future promises to be even more transformative.
Over the next decade, physical therapy for older adults will move toward highly personalized, predictive, and preventive care. Therapists will leverage new tools to better understand each patient’s unique biology, environment, and lived experience:
- Genotyping and Phenotyping will allow us to identify genetic factors that influence recovery speed, fall risk, or response to specific interventions, helping us tailor programs to the individual.
- Wearable Sensor Data, collected continuously in the home and community, will provide real-time insights into walking patterns, activity levels, sleep quality, and physiological signals — enabling us to intervene earlier and adjust programs dynamically.
- Gut Microbiome Analysis will inform our understanding of systemic inflammation, metabolic health, and neurological function, all of which play a role in mobility and recovery in older adults.
- Environmental Exposure Data — from air quality to neighborhood walkability — will help us design holistic, context-aware interventions that support aging in place.
Imagine a future where physical therapists can predict declines before they happen, optimize recovery trajectories, and prevent hospitalizations by integrating these multidimensional data. That future is within reach — and physical therapists will be at its center, combining advanced science with the human touch that defines our profession.
This National Physical Therapy Month, let’s celebrate not only how far we’ve come in caring for older adults, but also the extraordinary future ahead. Together, we are leading a movement — one that empowers older adults to live longer, move better, and age on their own terms.
Happy National Physical Therapy Month.
