Listening Time — 25:43

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In this episode of the PTJ Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Steven George, PT, PhD, FAPTA, talks with Katrina Monroe, PT, PhD, about her recently published study, which tracked physical therapist-patient conversations over a six-week care period and found that consistently responding to patients' emotional cues was associated with lower pain intensity. George and Monroe discuss what empathy looks like during physical therapy visits, why there might be variability in empathetic communication, and why empathy's influence might take time to appear in patient encounters.

Monroe is co-author of the article "More Frequent Empathic Communication by Physical Therapists is Associated With Improved Outcomes for Low-Impact Chronic Pain." Read the article on the PTJ website and follow PTJ on LinkedIn and Bluesky for more research updates. 

Our Speakers

Steven George, PT, PhD, FAPTA, is editor-in-chief of PTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal. He is the Laszlo Ormandy Distinguished Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery and therapeutic area lead in Musculoskeletal and Surgical Sciences, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University.

Katrina Monroe, PT, PhD, is a professor in the School of Physical Therapy at San Diego State University.