This course follows a regional approach to gross anatomy of the musculoskeletal, circulatory and nervous systems of the upper and lower extremities, thorax and head and neck. Supplemented by cross sectional anatomy, radiographic and digital imaging.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Summer.

This course provides a framework for understanding the structural and functional organization of the human nervous system. Principles and applications of neurophysiology, neuroanatomy and functional correlates are included. Finally, diseases and dysfunctions of the nervous system that are relevant to current practice are introduced.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course investigates movement science with emphasis on foundational biomechanical principles related to human posture and movement. Qualitative and quantitative movement analysis is presented with emphasis on clinical application.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course will provide students with the current state of knowledge in the physiology of exercise. A systems approach will be used to provide a thorough understanding of the acute and chronic adaptations to exercise training, with an emphasis on the mechanisms underlying these adaptations.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Spring.

This course addresses functional movement across the life span in healthy individuals. Emphasis is on stages in life when the greatest changes in motor behavior occur and the factors that influence those changes. Developmental changes in all systems and their contributions to functional movement will be explored.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course presents the foundation of motor learning and control as it applies to optimal movement across the lifespan. Emphasis is on variables related to the individual task composition, the environment and augmented information that enhance practice of motor skills. These principles are applied to physical therapist practice.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course is focused from the perspective of the practitioner as a person.General psycho-emotional issues and specific theories related to: practitioner self-awareness, emotions, spirituality, grief-loss-mourning, psych factors associated with the experience of pain will be presented.Introduction to motivational interviewing is included

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Spring.

Builds on knowledge, skills and attitudes gained in DPTR 5161 with additional focus on general issues and theories related to: changing behaviors, depression and anxiety, sexuality in rehabilitation, suicidal behavior, addiction in society, stress management and conflict resolution.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Fall, Summer.

Disease prevention and health promotion are recognized as integral aspects of physical therapist practice. In this first of two courses, students will use current models of behavior change, disability, and population health to understand the multiple determinants of health and wellness. Using oneself as the client, students will complete an individual health assessment, identify areas of growth, and generate a plan to promote their own health and wellness.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Summer.

This course introduces the physical therapist’s examination of the patient. This course will familiarize the student with the ICF framework and emphasize foundational examination skills including communication, manual muscle testing, goniometry, and surface palpation.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Summer.

This course emphasizes developing a process of hypothesis generation to direct clinical decision making during the examination part of the patient encounter. Skill development includes examination techniques of the integumentary, cardiovascular/pulmonary, neuromuscular, and musculoskeletal systems, including analysis of human movement.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course introduces basic intervention principles, including fundamentals of tissue healing and adaptation. Intervention techniques including posture and positioning, basic mobility with and without assistive devices, and thermal physical agents for improving functional mobility and for managing a variety of clinical populations are introduced.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Summer.

Further introduction and advancement of foundational intervention principles and techniques including soft tissue mobilization, physical agents and electrotherapeutic modalities. Emphasis is on the application of exercise as an intervention for improving functional mobility and for managing a variety of clinical problems.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course highlights the physical therapy management of patients with cardiovascular, pulmonary and metabolic disorders across the lifespan and healthcare settings. Physiology, medical management, diagnostic testing, clinical decision making and medical screening are covered with implications for physical therapist’s practice.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Spring.

This course covers the examination, clinical reasoning, and physical therapy management of musculoskeletal disorders across the lifespan, focusing on conditions affecting the lower quarter, including the lumbopelvic region, hip, knee, foot, and ankle. Medical management principles such as radiology and pharmacology are also covered, with implications for physical therapy management.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Spring.

Clinical decision-making frameworks are discussed for management of people with neurologic conditions with an emphasis on stroke and cerebral palsy. Clinical skills are taught for examination, evaluation and intervention across the lifespan and across settings. Evidence based practice and manual guidance are emphasized for intervention.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Spring.

This course covers and applies concepts and steps of evidence-based practice to a variety of clinical settings, including: searching; selection; and appraisal of the literature. Emphasis is on searching the literature to answer clinical questions regarding physical therapy tests and measures, interventions, and patient prognosis.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Fall.

This introductory course teaches students to integrate current evidence with critical reasoning in the ICF framework to facilitate patient-centered decision making in the examination, prognosis, and intervention for elementary patient cases across a variety of clinical practice settings.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Spring.

This course is the first in a series of courses on professional development. Students will explore self and begin the journey of becoming a physical therapist. This course emphasizes reflecting on personal and professional values, examining professional communication behaviors, and developing foundational writing skills.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Summer.

This course provides a basic overview of the American health system and all payer types. Impact of regulation on therapists and support personnel supervision will be discussed with a focus on the Colorado State Practice Act, state and federal laws. Key concepts of Quality Improvement and Safety will be introduced.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Spring.

This course provides students with an opportunity to pursue study and learning content of their own choosing or a special clinical interest under guidance of a faculty mentor.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Summer.

This course provides students with an opportunity to pursue study and learning content of their own choosing or a special clinical interest under guidance of a faculty mentor.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course provides students with an opportunity to pursue study and learning content of their own choosing or a special clinical interest under guidance of a faculty mentor.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Spring.

Short-term clinical education experience providing initial foundation and understanding of clinical practice with emphasis on integration of didactic and clinical learning while working in a student team. Prerequisites: DPT Program students only

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course follows a regional approach to gross anatomy of the systems of the abdomen and pelvis and supplemented by cross sectional anatomy radiographic and digital imaging. An in-depth study of upper and lower extremity arthrology through whole-body donor dissection is included.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

A-GRAD Restricted to graduate students only.

Typically Offered: Summer.

Application of movement science in physical therapy practice with emphasis on human movement related to aging, clinical analysis, tests & measures, and prosthetics & orthotics.The prosthetic & orthotic unit is designed to build student competency in clinical management of individuals who require use of common prosthetic & orthotic devices

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course continues the physical therapy management of patients with varied medical conditions (cancer; rheumatic) occurring across the lifespan and health care settings. Physiology, medical management, diagnostic testing, clinical decision making and medical screening are covered with implications for physical therapist’s practice.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course continues the physical therapist management of medical conditions. Integumentary, endocrine, transplant, geriatric and ICU care are emphasized. Physical therapist’s clinical decision-making and differential diagnosis are advanced while integrating physiology, medical and pharmacological management and diagnostic testing.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Spring.

This course continues the examination, clinical reasoning, and physical therapy management of musculoskeletal disorders across the life span, focusing on conditions affecting the cervical and thoracic regions. Medical management principles such as radiology and pharmacology are also covered, with implications for physical therapy management.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

A-GRAD Restricted to graduate students only.

Typically Offered: Summer.

This course continues the examination, physical therapy management and clinical reasoning necessary for the management of individuals with musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders across the life span, focusing on upper extremity conditions. MSK medical management, radiology and pharmacology are covered with implications for physical therapy management.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course covers the examination, clinical reasoning, and physical therapy management of musculoskeletal disorders across the life span, focusing on temporomandibular disorders, pediatric orthopedics, adolescent orthopedics, pelvic health, working adults, and geriatric orthopedics within the continuum of care. Medical management principles such as radiology and pharmacology are also covered, with implications for physical therapy management.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

A-GRAD Restricted to graduate students only.

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course includes an in-depth exploration of people with neurodegenerative conditions across the lifespan, specifically as related to tests and measures, prognoses, and intervention approaches. Radiology and pharmacology as related to neuropathy are included.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Summer.

This course progresses and synthesizes clinical skills, decision-making and reasoning using frameworks and evidence applied the physical therapy management for people with neurological conditions across the lifespan. Primary topics include vestibular disorders, traumatic/acquired brain injury, developmental and genetic disorders, and spinal cord injury.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

A-GRAD Restricted to graduate students only.

Typically Offered: Fall.

This advanced course teaches students to integrate current evidence with critical reasoning in the ICF framework to facilitate patient-centered decision making in the examination, prognosis, and for intervention for complex patient cases across a variety of clinical practice settings.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Fall, Summer.

This course requires students to integrate evidence, patient values, and clinical expertise with the ICF model of clinical decision making for actual patient cases. Students will identify and answer focused questions regarding examination, intervention, and prognosis through literature searches and online collegial discussion forums. Requirement: DPT Students only

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Spring.

Professional Development II expands conversations regarding our professional identity to consider what it means to be a health professional. We will explore our obligations to our patients, our profession, and society and consider the future of physical therapist practice. During the second half of the course we will turn our attention toward professional development, including licensure, practice settings, and post-professional career opportunities.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Fall.

Introduction to leadership in healthcare including leadership styles/characteristics. Explores preparation for professional development opportunities following licensure including continuing education, consideration of salary/benefits/debt/etc., and the first position as a new professional. Discussion about career expectations, moving through the continuum of novice to expert, debate, and developing one’s professional identity/potential.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

A-GRAD Restricted to graduate students only.

Typically Offered: Spring.

This course covers the organization, financing, and delivery of physical therapy services within the United States healthcare system. Topics include business concepts relevant to providing care and managing a practice (marketing, human resources, risk management, financial management), and legal and regulatory issues (licensure, fraud/abuse laws, Americans with Disabilities Act, supervision of support staff). Additional content includes comparisons between the US system and other countries, and professional issues like interviewing, negotiating job offers, and selecting positions after graduation.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Spring.

This course provides students with an opportunity to pursue study and learning content of their own choosing or a special clinical interest under guidance of a faculty mentor.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Summer.

This course provides students with an opportunity to pursue content of their own choosing under guidance of a faculty mentor.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Fall.

This course provides students with an opportunity to pursue content of their own choosing under guidance of a faculty mentor.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Spring.

ICE II occurs in the middle of the fall semester and focuses on the broader roles that physical therapists have within patient and local community groups. It also continues the integration of classroom and clinical learning while student teams are placed in a new clinical setting (as compared to ICE I). ICE II allows immersion in activities focused on professional formation, advanced clinical problem solving, community engagement, and further development of cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Fall.

Eight-week, full time clinical experience providing students with the opportunity to take on responsibilities of the professional physical therapist, including beginning to manage a caseload and participating in a healthcare team. Requirements: DPT Students only.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Fall, Summer.

This is a 10-week, full-time supervised clinical experience. Experience with emphasis on increasing independence in management of patients, becoming an integral member of the healthcare team and using self-assessment for professional development.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Spring.

This course will focus on functional capacity and performance testing, as well as exercise prescription, for individuals with multi-system involvement. Emphasis will be placed on clinical decision-making to tailor evidence-informed, patient-centered rehabilitation interventions, optimizing and enhancing each individual's functional abilities. Additionally, the course will address overcoming multilevel barriers to both the prescription and execution of exercise interventions, as part of comprehensive rehabilitation care aimed at promoting health and function in medically complex populations.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Spring.

Students will apply fundamental concepts learned in HPWI to further understand individual, social and structural determinants of health. Equipped with this knowledge, they will work to design interventions and programs that promote health at the individual and community level.

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

A-GRAD Restricted to graduate students only.

Typically Offered: Summer.

Various topics: provides students with the opportunity to explore selected topics, related to clinical practice, in depth or topics that are outside of the scope of the set curriculum. DPT students only.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Repeatable. Max Credits: 1.

Typically Offered: Summer.

This course provides a structured and comprehensive review of key concepts covered on the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE). Students will engage with interactive lectures, structured study plans, and practice examinations designed to simulate the NPTE testing format and environment. Emphasis is placed on test-taking strategies, time management, and problem-solving skills. Content review areas may include the musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and integumentary systems, with a focus on clinical reasoning and application of foundational knowledge. Additional resources, including question banks and study guides, will be provided to reinforce learning.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Summer.

A synthesis of curricular content applied to highly complex situations illustrative and inclusive of clinical practice across the lifespan. Through retrospective and prospective reasoning, students will analyze and articulate decisions based on reasoning, evidence, and contextual realities with colleagues across health care professions. Requirement: DPT Student Enrollment Only

Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP

Typically Offered: Summer.

Final course in the clinical reasoning sequence requires students to articulate and defend their clinical decision-making process in the exam, eval, management, and outcome assessment for a selected patient. Students will synthesize and integrate the evidence to inform decision making throughout each aspect of the patient mgmt process. Requirement: DPT Student Enrollment Only

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

Typically Offered: Summer.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.

Typically Offered: Summer.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Fall.

Terminal clinical experience with emphasis on professional identity formation and functioning as an entry-level clinician within the complexities of the healthcare system. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the role of the physical therapist within the profession and broader society. First phase of the yearlong internship.

Grading Basis: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory w/IP

Typically Offered: Fall.