Functional progress

Physical therapist becomes board certified

By Dr. Chad M. Pens

AUBURN — When most people do business, the goal is to make lifelong customers. Not Chad Pens. When you walk out the doors of his office, his goal is to make sure that you don’t have to return..

Pens, 33, is a physical therapist and orthopedic specialist. He has been practicing for about eight years, and is currently the head of Cayuga Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy (COAST PT).

Pens also recently earned his board certification as a clinical specialist from the American Physical Therapy Association, making him one of about 7,000 physical therapists to make the achievement since 1985.

When a patient comes to Pens, the person is usually in pain. His job is to evaluate the cause and source, and prescribe a routine that will heal the problem, he said. If he does his job right, he loses his customers.

Fortunately, his services are usually still in demand, Pens said.

"People are going to get injured, so I don’t feel the need to create (the demand)," said Pens, who lives near Camillus. "I hope they never have to return — that they can do what they want to do, pain free."

Pens first became interested in physical therapy when he was in pain, himself. An athlete in high school, Pens sprained his knee playing football his senior year. He befriended his physical therapist, and he worked in the office during summers through college.

"I did my own research, and I realized that this profession is more than just knees," Pens said. "In physical therapy, you can do just about anything. You can work in a hospital or in a nursing home, or you can do orthopedics and geriatrics."I did my own research, and I realized that this profession is more than just knees," Pens said. "In physical therapy, you can do just about anything. You can work in a hospital or in a nursing home, or you can do orthopedics and geriatrics."

After earning a master’s degree and a doctorate in physical therapy at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, Pens was then able to work with elite track and field athletes as a physical therapists for Cornell University.

Eventually, he began practicing at COAST PT, which was owned and run by a colleague.

Pens said private practice gives him a chance to do what he loves — interact with patients to help them achieve their goals, and to encourage exercise. However, not all patients are prepared for what he prescribes.

"People often say that they didn’t expect to have to work,” Pens said. “But there is a physical part of physical therapy. There is work involved. I’m not going to do it for you, but I am going to explain why I ask you to do it."

After about five years in private practice, Pens decided to take the next step and try to become a boardcertified specialist, he said.

To become certified, a physical therapist must build on a broad base of professional education and develop a greater depth of knowledge and skills related to a particular area of practice, according to the APTA.

For Pens, it meant many hours of preparation for a day-long examination and months of waiting for the results, he said.

A physical therapist does not need board certification to practice, and it sets you apart from the others when you earn it, he said.

"I wanted to be able to say ‘Here is why you should come to me,'" Pens said. "I work hard at everything I do, and I have never had to take anything for granted."

But Pens said he ultimately wants people to seek out his help because of his reputation. After all, if he does his job right, he will not be able to rely on return customers.

“You’ll never know 100 percent if you prevented an injury,” Pens said. “My best advertisement is to do well by my patients.”

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it