About Us
Our company was founded by three experienced physical therapists with a passion for improving the quality of care in healthcare rehab. The founders of AdaptEd are residency and fellowship trained physical therapists who are like-minded individuals who respect and challenge the evidence in physical therapy. With numerous publications and conference presentations, we have a passion for educating rehabilitation professionals on not just interventions, but clinical decision-making. They have seen firsthand the challenges that healthcare professionals face in staying up-to-date with the latest research and techniques.
That’s why we created our company, to provide continuing education courses that are both evidence-based and practical. Our courses are designed to help healthcare professionals improve their clinical skills and ultimately provide better care for their patients. We live by our motto – Learn. Adapt. Treat. We are preparing providers with the clinical understanding, decision-making, and application that they can learn over the weekend and apply that next Monday.
We believe that continuing education is essential for healthcare professionals to stay current in their field and to continuously improve their practice. That’s why we are dedicated to providing high-quality, accessible, and affordable courses for physical therapists, occupational therapists, and other rehab professionals.
Thank you for choosing our company for your continuing education needs. We look forward to helping you advance your career and improve patient outcomes.
Dr. Ryan McConnell, PT, DPT, DSc, OCS, COMT, FAAOMPT is a co-founder and lead faculty member of AdaptEd. He currently serves as Assistant Professor at Belmont University’s School of Physical Therapy and teaches gross anatomy, psychosocial aspects of healthcare and therapeutic modalities. He received his Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He received his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Doctor of Science degree from Bellin College. He completed a postdoctoral orthopaedic residency and fellowship in orthopaedic manual physical therapy. He is Board Certified in Orthopaedic Physical Therapy and recognized as a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists. When not teaching at Belmont University, he serves as a clinical mentor for residents and fellows in training. Dr. McConnell has been dry needling since 2014 and has taught dry needling continuing education nationally since 2017. He has received the APTA’s Emerging Leader Award in 2018 and APTA TN Outstanding PT Educator Award in 2023.
Research interests: psychologically informed physical therapy practice, methodology, dry needling.
Dr. Steven E. Spinks, PT, DPT, PhD(c), OCS, COMT, FAAOMPT is a co-founder and lead faculty member of AdaptEd. He received his Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Western Kentucky University. He received his doctorate in physical therapy from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He completed a Postdoctoral Orthopaedic Residency and Fellowship in Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy with Upstream Rehabilitation Institute. He is also Board Certified in Orthopaedic Physical Therapy and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists. He is currently working on his Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences with his dissertation interests in cervical spine considerations for dizziness and concussions.
Dr. Spinks served on the board of directors in the Tennessee Physical Therapy Association as membership chair and has served in various leadership roles throughout volunteer organizations and through Upstream Rehabilitation. He is currently the Chief Assembly Representative for the West Central District of the Florida Physical Therapy Association. He actively participates in teaching continuing education courses with his primary focus on vestibular rehabilitation and concussion management through the American Institute of Balance since 2016. He is an assistant professor at Gannon University, leading the musculoskeletal series and advanced practices courses. His scholarship interests are vestibular and concussion management, orthopedic manual physical therapy, therapeutic exercise and dosage, and clinical integration of knowledge to practice.
Dr. Josh Subialka, PT, DPT, DSc, OCS, FAAOMPT is a co-founder and lead faculty member of AdaptEd. He has 10 years of clinical experience and has been an assistant professor in the Midwestern University Doctor of Physical Therapy program in Glendale, AZ since 2020 teaching in the areas of physical therapy evaluation, clinical reasoning, therapeutic exercise, manual therapy, and dry needling. He maintains part-time clinical practice in the MWU clinic while mentoring MWU DPT students. Josh has been teaching continuing education courses since 2017, leading comprehensive evaluation and management, manual therapy, clinical reasoning, and dry needling courses. He is a graduate of the College of St. Scholastica’s DPT program, as well as Upstream Rehab Institute’s (URI) orthopedic residency program, becoming an orthopedic clinical specialist (OCS) in 2017. He later completed the URI orthopaedic manual physical therapy fellowship program, becoming a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists (FAAOMPT) in 2018. Josh continues to be active in the URI fellowship program as senior lead faculty member of the research and scholarship program, and lead faculty in grand round cases emphasizing clinical reasoning. He continues to be an active mentor for fellows-in-training across the country. In 2021, Josh graduated from Bellin College with a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree, where he published works on patient expectations and manual therapy trials for low back pain in prestigious journals such as JOSPT. His current research interests are patient expectations and perceptions of physical therapy/manual therapy, dry needling, trial methodology and clinical applicability and translation of research, qualitative-driven research, and social determinants of health with accessibility to PT services. Josh frequently presents at local and national conferences and is an active member of the APTA and AAOMPT organizations.