About Us

Hey there! We are Ellen and Stephen Stockhausen, doctors of physical therapy and all around adventurers!

Early on as travel physical therapists made all of the common mistakes inexperienced travelers make. We understand how intimidating it can be to jump into traveling and how confusing this world may seem. This site is our way to give back to our wonderful community and to help you create the adventurous lifestyle you have always dreamt of!

Considered one of the Top Resources for physical therapists 3 years in a row!

2017: Jackson Therapy – “The top 5 traveling physical therapist blogs you should be reading”

2017: Preferred Healthcare Staffing – “Best Blogs by Travel Therapists”

2018: The Traveling Traveler – “5 Travel Therapy Blogs to Follow in 2018”

2019: “Top Blogs of 2019” Online Physical Therapy Programs

2019: Health Care Traveler Today – “Top 5 Travel Blogs You Should Follow in 2019”

And featured by the APTA in: Greetings from PTs and PTAs Who Travel

We initially met in Physical Therapy school at the University of Kentucky as lab partners in Gross Anatomy class (Ellen likes to say “over a dead body”). Quickly becoming friends, rock climbing partners, and running buddies, we were soon dating and beginning to loosely plan our lives together. While we both had interests in travel physical therapy as students we opted to take permanent (“perm”) positions with outpatient clinics in the Southwest Colorado area, and there we stayed for the first two years of our careers – getting married and studying to become Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialists along the way.

It was around this time that we started to feel the pull of travel life. Living in a mountain town was great but being restrained the standard 2-3 weeks vacation a year was wearing on us. We worried about leaving “good stable jobs” as perm employees for the unknown world of short term contracts in new practices settings and towns.

It turns out that the inertia of “the unknown” is hard to overcome, and the first step is by far the hardest, but totally worth it!

In the spring of 2014 we packed up as much as we could fit in our two SUVs and have never looked back.

“It turns out that the inertia of “the unknown” is hard to overcome, and the first step is by far the hardest, but totally worth it!”

“I’m so thankful for your posts and providing your experience to others!” – Morgan C. – New Grad Travel PT

“I just came across your page today and I think it is great what you are doing here” – Cintia A

We have now created a lifestyle for our family (newborn daughter Kinley, and our two dogs Cayenne and Layla) that lets us explore wildernesses that we never would have imagined seeing, and live in towns that others only come to for vacation. As ultra-marathoners we have learned to travel light and fast, and have adapted the same ethos in our professional lives. At this time, our initial two SUVs worth of stuff, has been paired down to only what can fit in the back of our truck, while still being able to sleep on the custom platform on top of it.

“We have now created a lifestyle for ourselves that lets us explore wildernesses that we never would have imagined seeing, and live in towns that others only come to for vacation.”

We have worked in 6 different states, in multiple settings, and have filled our lives with as many unique and exciting experiences as we can.

This blog has come out of the requests made by family, colleagues, and friends who want to either learn how to do the same thing for themselves or simply live vicariously through our stories and photos. From this blog you can expect the following:

Stories and photos from our adventures as travel physical therapists
Advice from some of the lessons we have learned along the way
Musings regarding clinical tid-bits and other physical therapy related things
Gear Reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite gear that makes our exploits possible
Recent Addition: Traveling with a baby – a series of posts relating our experiences as newbie parents on the road

We are so thankful for the amazing opportunities we have been given and all of the incredible friends we have made along the way. We sincerely hope that this blog is of some use to you through your own journey… or at least makes for a fun read.

Please subscribe and follow along with our PT Adventures!

We write for and occasionally contribute to WebPT’s Blog found here.

Also check out this amazing podcast we were featured on. If you have any interaction with seniors as a rehab clinician the Senior Rehab Project is an essential podcast to subscribe to.

Or this podcast episode 34, by Dylan Callier! New Medical Nomads is a great spot for newbie advice.

*Disclaimer: From time to time we describe our approach to finances, contract negotiations, and other business or money related matters. Any recommendations or advice should be carefully examined and reviewed. Please, do your due diligence, especially in regards to tax or legal matters. We are not financial professionals and only share what we have learned from our own experience.

Side projects:

Stephen is the creative driver in our family. He has a patented product that he initially developed for a specific patient problem and quickly discovered many other uses for it in both the PT and fitness realms. You can scope it out at his, very rough, website here.

Ellen has a very successful practice as a Health and Wellness Coach. She gets super stoked to help uninjured friends and clients reach fitness and health goals that they did not know were so close to their grasp.

Summary

Name

Ellen and Stephen Stockhausen

Nickname

(PT Adventures)

Website

ptadventures.com

Job Title

Physical Therapist