Guide to Self-Care for the Travel Physical Therapist: Wellness on Travel PT Contract
Life as a travel PT can be incredibly rewarding, but life-on-the go can also be incredibly exhausting… one way we’ve found to promote work/life balance is to travel in our campervan throughout the U.S. on weekends & during my time off between travel PT contracts.
Taking travel physical therapy contracts can be incredibly rewarding, offering the opportunity to explore new cities and regions of the U.S. and make more money, all while positively impacting patients' lives.
However, the travel PT lifestyle and life on the road can make it harder to care for your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
Think about it… creating a routine is hard enough even when you’re working a 9-5 with a consistent home to return to every evening. Add a move to a new city every 3 months into your life and self-care and routine become much more complicated.
Also, feelings that are regularly heavy for you (e.g. loneliness, anxiety, depression, homesick) may feel even more heavy when you’re away from family, friends, and a consistent support system. The consistent isolation as a travel PT can be tough. (More on battling loneliness as a travel PT here.)
Through my own struggles as a travel PT over the last 6+ years, I’ve created this guide to self-care and personal wellness for travel physical therapists to help care for your own mind, body, and soul while taking travel PT jobs across the U.S.
Guide to Self-Care for the Travel PT
(Click link to jump ahead)
Physical Well-Being as a Travel PT
Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Well-Being as a Travel PT
Build Resilience Through Mindfulness and Meditation
Stay Connected with Friends/Family
Seek Community
Seek Professional Support
Set boundaries at work
Take time off during AND between travel PT contracts
Plan regular adventures
Travel domestically or internationally
Create a budget
Track your expenses to avoid financial stress and make sure you’re sticking to your budget
Set money aside enough aside to make money moves
Opt outdoors to save money
Embrace Minimalism
Documentation & Licenses
Learn from people of different backgrounds and new experiences
Personal development
Professional development
Reflect on experiences regularly
Physical Well-Being as a Travel PT
Daily Movement:
I know… if you’re a PT, you’re probably thinking… “DUH”. But how good are you at practicing what you preach? 🤔
Notice I said movement, and not exercise. Words matter, and this distinction is crucial. You don’t need to kill yourself in the gym 7 days a week to get results (looking at you, Type A/perfectionists peeps 👀).
As a travel PT, you’re constantly changing jobs and locations, meeting new coworkers and trying to make new friends, and adapting to a new work schedule and routine… not to mention visiting National Parks, checking out the coffee shops & breweries in your area, or traveling abroad during your time off.
It can be harder to commit to daily physical activity than you think.
Not to mention, you don’t have a consistent gym to hit up for more than 3 months at a time.
Try these strategies below to get moving every day, even if you are in a city you’ve never been before. Many of them could be done no matter what your location, or if you have a gym available in your area. Remember — even a 30 min walk at lunch counts as daily movement!
Go for a walk or run to explore the beautiful natural scenery around you
Download the AllTrails app and go for a hike near you – bonus if it’s got a lot of elevation to get the legs working & heart pumping
Sign up for Class Pass to find group exercise classes near you (you might also meet some new friends there!)
Do at virtual workouts at home – You can do bodyweight strength training or purchase adjustable dumbbells like these to incorporate progressive overload.
Try out yoga – Easy to do anytime, anywhere. You don’t even need a mat or blocks to do most poses! Yoga is a fantastic way to care for your mind/body/soul – it’s the epitome of mindful movement and incorporates breath as well for stress relief.
Join a local sports league to have some fun while moving your body – e.g. we love beach volleyball, so I’ll often search for a Facebook group of local volleyball players or Google a local volleyball league as soon as we arrive to a contract
Visit a gym near your work location and make a commitment to go before or after work 3-4x/week — explain your situation as a travel PT and ask if they have a monthly option or if they can create a custom 3-month package for you. I’ve been able to negotiate a short-term membership 95% of the time over the last 6 years.
Celebrating after reaching the peak of a beautiful hike in Mount Rainier. Hiking is one of my favorite ways to combine movement, mindfulness, and grounding.
Meal Prep to Eat Healthy & Save Money
Nutrition is by far the absolute hardest aspect of health for me! I am 32 y/o at the time of writing this, and I’m still learning how to cook a variety of healthy meals while also keeping food interesting.
At the end of the day, food is fuel. Our restaurant and food industry has made it seem like everything we eat has to be delicious and packed with flavor. Obviously, eating out every day is going to put a big dent in your wallet and probably in your fitness goals as well.
What’s worked best for me is to plan my meals with simple ingredients (the fewer, the better) and bulk meal prep at the beginning of the week. You ever heard of the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid 😜)? I’ve found A.I. to be an extremely helpful life hack in meal planning. You can list your dietary preferences and it will generate a new meal plan for you each week, complete with shopping list for the grocery store.
Here’s what works for me ––
Cook a meal with healthy ingredients on one pan in the oven or with an Instant Pot
Divide portions up into 4-5 tupperware containers (however many days you work that week).
Take all the tupperware containers to work on Monday and place in the fridge
Potentially pop it into the microwave at lunch, or just in enjoy. Bonus – then you’ve got time for that lunch walk 😉.
I’ll also grab some staples at Costco like this pre-cooked grass-fed sirloin, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, fruit and veggies, mixed nuts/trail mix and these Fairlife Protein Shakes to fill in the gaps throughout the week.
Here are some other tips to save time, money, and effort while still eating healthy throughout the week while on travel PT contract:
One-Pan Meals: Opt for one-pan meals or sheet pan recipes where you cook proteins and veggies together, minimizing cleanup time.
Batch Cook: Cook large quantities of chicken breasts, steak, quinoa, rice, etc. and store them for easy mix-and-match meals throughout the week. For example — breeakfast burritos, stir fry, wraps, tacos, salads.
Make breakfast easy: Think yogurt parfaits (e.g. greek yogurt, fruit, nuts & honey), cottage cheese and fruit, overnight oats. You can find all sorts of delicious and easy overnight oats recipes online. Remembers – the more protein you consume in the morning, the more controlled your appetite and the less snacking you’ll do throughout the day.
Pre-cut Veggies: Buy pre-cut vegetables or spend time chopping veggies in bulk to save time during the week.
Frozen Fruits and Veggies: Use frozen produce for smoothies or quick stir-fries; they are nutritious and save prep time.
Healthy Snacks: Portion out nuts, fruits, or veggies into snack-sized containers for easy grab-and-go options.
Sleep Hygiene on Travel PT Contract
Undergrad and grad school basically trained me to run on 4-5 hours of sleep per night. I was an absolute pro at burning the candle on both ends and I remember saying for years “I can sleep when I’m dead”… until I crashed and started getting sick.
There was even a couple year period of time when I was passing out randomly 1-2x/year. My nervous system was on overload. I was stuck in fight or flight and wasn’t giving my body the recovery time it needed. I was surviving, but I wasn’t thriving whatsoever.
Through sleeping 7-9 hours per night and learning techniques to regulate my nervous system like mindfulness/meditation (more on this below), my health, energy levels, and physique have changed for the better.
Become a “sleep diva” like me (that’s what my wife calls me 😉). To optimize sleep, I wear my sleep mask, put a small piece of Kinesio tape over my lips so I nasal breath (a more efficient method of breathing) while sleeping, and use a noise machine app on my phone.
Your nervous system is going to feel a bit on guard in a new housing accommodation, on a new mattress, and starting a new job soon. Do whatever you need to do to create a restful sleeping environment, especially in new or noisy locations.
Here are a list of practical sleep hygiene tips (pro tip: these will be helpful to teach to your chronic pain patients, as well ✍🏼):
Consistent Sleep Schedule/Circadian Rhythm: Go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day (within an hour if possible), even on weekends. Your body will eventually learn this cycle which will make it easier to fall asleep and wake up in the mornings.
Create a Bedtime Routine: Establish a calming pre-sleep routine, such as reading, meditating, or taking a warm bath.
Limit Screen Time: Avoid screens (phones, tablets, TV) at least an hour before bed to reduce blue light exposure. The blue light on your screens mimics the blue hue in the sky, which signals to your brain that you should still be awake (and impairs melatonin production).
Comfortable Sleep Environment: Ensure your bedroom is cool (ideally 60-67 degrees Fahrenheit), dark, and quiet. Use blackout curtains and/or a sleep mask, a fan, and earplugs/headphones if necessary. Cover all light from electronics as even this amount of light pollution can impair your ability to fall into deeper sleep cycles.
Limit Caffeine: Avoid caffeine after 12pm (2pm if you absolutely NEED that after-lunch coffee) or excessive amounts of caffeine throughout the day. Either can impair your ability to fall asleep at night (not to mention, heighten your anxiety).
Limit Alcohol: avoid alcohol several hours before bedtime. Alcohol can impair your ability to fall into your deeper, restorative sleep cycles.
Avoid Large Meals: Don’t eat large meals or heavy snacks right before bedtime to prevent discomfort and indigestion. Ideally, avoid eating 2-3 hours before bed if possible.
Exercise Regularly: Move your body every day (ideally 30 min or more), but avoid vigorous exercise within a couple hours of your bedtime. Even a 15-20 min walk can make a huge difference in your ability to fall asleep at night. Think about it – if you haven’t moved your body or expended any energy throughout the day, it’s going to be like…. “Why do I need to rest?”
Relaxation Techniques: Practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing (look up box breathing as an example), meditation, body scans, or progressive muscle relaxation before bed. More on meditation below.
Comfortable Bedding: Invest in comfortable and breathable bedding that you can take with you from assignment to assignment. Sleeping in a new bed every assignment isn’t always ideal, but even just the same bedding can make a huge difference in terms of comfort and familiarity!
Mental & Emotional Well-Being as a Travel PT
Your mental health is just as, if not more, important than your physical health. And if you weren’t already aware, your physical and mental health are absolutely intertwined. If you don’t take care of your mental health, your physical health will suffer, and vice versa.
It’s even more important to care for your mental health when you’re starting a new job and moving to a new city every 3 months without a consistent support system.
Build Resilience Through Mindfulness and Meditation
Through my own mental health/self-love journey, I’ve worked through low self-esteem, self-loathing, and unpacked all kinds of maladaptive beliefs I formed surrounding myself during my younger years.
I owe most of this personal growth to meditation. I’ve learned to sit with and detach from my thoughts non-judgmentally, cultivate self-compassion and loving-kindness, and harness neuroplasticity (where my neuro / pain science nerds at?! 🤓) to literally change the way my brain is wired. If you make meditation a habit, I promise it will absolutely change your life.
Not to mention, I’ve developed self-confidence and self-worth through the process of being a travel PT. I’ve proved to myself time and time again that I can be an effective and compassionate PT even when the odds are stacked against me at a new job (with a new EMR, new clinic, new coworkers, new system, etc.) Though your first couple travel contracts will definitely be stressful, your confidence level will increase with each travel PT contract.
Here are some of the most effective ways you can care for your mental health while on travel PT contract:
Meditation/Mindfulness: Apps like Headspace, Calm, & FitMind have guided meditation to get you started with a daily meditation practice.
Deep Breathing Exercises: I find these especially effective for managing large spikes in anxiety throughout the day e.g. after an overly negative or energetically draining patient leaves the clinic
Journaling: Getting your thoughts out of your head and down on paper, keeping a daily gratitude journal, or daily positive affirmations. You can find endless prompts for journaling on blogs or using A.I.
Grounding/Presence: The goal is returning to the present moment (not ruminating on the past or worrying about the future). Use your senses to bring you into the present moment via the 5-4-3-2-1 method (identify 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch/feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste or 1 thing you’re grateful for if there’s nothing to taste) or by literally putting your bare feet on the Earth.
Detach from your thoughts: You are your thoughts and you are not the voice inside your head. Your thoughts are simply your brain in motion. If you have a “mean” voice inside your head, name that voice (bonus if the name is of somebody you don’t like haha!). Whenever the voice in your head starts to say mean things about you, say “shut the f*** up, Karen!” to disrupt this cycle. This voice feeds on your negative feelings about yourself and detaching yourself from this voice can work wonders for your self-worth. You can also tell the voice “I don’t believe you”, “Those words are poison”, or whatever verbiage resonates with you.
Read books on personal development, neuroscience, positive psychology, and spirituality: This is a rabbit hole that I love going down. I try to read every night before bed so I’m always learning. Once you read one, you’ll find 5 others you want to read. What better way to harness neuroplasticity then to learn more about the brain and how it works?! Some of my favorites are The Four Agreements, Think Like a Monk, How to Do the Work, and The Body Keeps the Score.
Stay Connected with Friends/Family
Regularly check in with family and friends so you have a support system from afar during a travel PT contract.
Use video calls or social media to maintain and nurture these relationships, which will help you feel emotionally supported and reducing feelings of isolation when you’re far from home.
Seek Community
Download the Medventure App to connect with other travel healthcare professionals in your area – e.g. hit up a happy hour, go for a hike, play sand volleyball
Download apps like EventBrite or MeetUp or check Facebook Events in your area to see what local events are going on near you
Build relationships with colleagues at work to make your 3 months on travel PT contract more enjoyable. Eat lunch or go on a walk with them and ask questions to get to know them. Making friends at work will make your life easier in the clinic as well.
Hanging out with our travel therapy friends at a meetup we planned in Durango, CO. As humans, we’re absolutely wired for community, and it’s crucial to connect with other travelers throughout the U.S. when you’re living so far from home.
Seek Professional Support
Don’t hesitate to seek professional help if you’re feeling anxious, overwhelmed or depressed. Resources like BetterHelp will allow you to obtain counseling services no matter where you’re at. I am a huge advocate for therapy and I think everyone could benefit.
Balance Work and Leisure
Set boundaries at work: Establish clear boundaries between work and personal time. Leave work on time. Make it clear that you will not work off the clock (looking at you, outpatient PTs 👀). This will ensure your time off is truly yours to unwind and recharge.
Take time off during travel PT contracts: Request time off in your travel PT contract to balance work responsibilities with fun. Take a 3-day weekend here and there just because. Hell, take a mental health day if you need to. Life is too short – be kind to yourself.
Take time off between travel PT contracts: You can take a couple of weeks off or a couple of months (unpaid, of course) to recharge and avoid burnout. The beauty of this lifestyle is the choice is yours and you have the flexibility to do what is best for you.
Plan regular adventures: Schedule regular outings or roadtrips to explore your new location and recharge after helping people all week.
Travel domestically or internationally: To learn more about other cultures (and yourself), expand your horizons, and enjoy life.
Exploring Lake Tahoe during a long weekend where I took extra time off during a travel PT contract in Susanville, CA. Taking time off during and between my travel PT jobs has personally been vital to avoiding burnout and increasing job satisfaction.
Financial Health
Ah, finances. Everyone’s favorite subject…. yeah, right.
The good news is, travel PTs make more money than permanent PTs. I’ve personally made anywhere from $1,750 - $3,100 / week on travel PT contracts between 2018 - 2024 (for reference, making >$2k/week is a great rate for a travel PT).
With more income comes more time and financial freedom, but only if you spend responsibly.
Create a budget: Develop a budget to manage your finances effectively. Create categories and allocate funds for essentials like gas/groceries, your student loans, your car payment, savings, and emergency fund, and leisure activities.
Track your expenses to avoid financial stress and make sure you’re sticking to your budget
Set money aside enough aside to make money moves (e.g. pay off debt, investment or real estate) to meet long-term financial goals
Opt outdoors to save money: Opt for cost-effective leisure activities, such as hiking, visiting free museums, or attending local community events.
Stay Organized
The travel PT life will teach you to love minimalism. We started traveling with only what could fit in our one car (a Toyota Camry) and now we travel with only what will fit in our campervan.
Trust me, you don’t want to be packing/unpacking an entire house worth of things every 3 months. I’ve gone through several cycles of purging my things, and every time I get rid of something, I feel physically and mentally lighter.
Pack minimally: Refer to this packing list for an idea of what to bring on a travel PT contract. You need way less than you think! If you haven’t touched it in the last 3 months, you probably don’t need it.
Documentation and licenses: Keep all your professional documentation and licenses organized and easily accessible (I use Google Drive, so it’s accessible from anywhere). You can use the CamScanner app to digitally scan any physical copies into your Google Drive so you can quickly send anything needed for onboarding to your travel PT agency.
Keep Learning and Growing
As a travel physical therapist, you have a unique opportunity to continuously learn and grow both personally and professionally, through working travel PT jobs with clinicians throughout the U.S. all while seeing different parts of the world. Whether it's through personal hobbies, or reflecting on your journey, prioritizing growth ensures that you not only provide the best care for your patients but also find fulfillment and joy in your own life. Here are some practical tips to help you on this path.
Learn from people of different backgrounds and new experiences: Eat lunch with or go to happy hour with your coworkers. Attend a meetup with strangers. Go speed dating. Go the local farmer’s market. It will probably feel scary and little out of your comfort zone, but guess what? Life begins outside your comfort zone. Do it afraid!
Personal development: Read books, listen to podcasts, take online courses. Try new hobbies to connect with your authentic self (e.g. attend a yoga, cooking or dance class, go hiking for the first time, start writing or learn an instrument).
Professional development: Take advantage of local CEU courses to upgrade your clinical skills. You can also access unlimited online CEU courses from MedBridge which I’ve been using for the last 6+ years (they also have a stellar HEP program and prep courses for certifications like OCS, NCS, GCS). Learn unique clinical skills from clinicians all around the U.S.
Reflect on experiences: Regularly reflect on your experiences, both positive and negative, both at work and outside work. Journaling or talking with a mentor or coach can provide new insights and personal growth.
In Summary
Travel physical therapy provides a unique opportunity to grow personally & professionally, gain more flexibility in your work schedule, take more time off work, and explore the U.S. and beyond to expand your horizons. However, maintaining physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being as a travel physical therapist can be challenging, given the constant change in environments and routines, and the nature of working in healthcare. With right strategies, you can maintain your physical and mental health, improve overall well-being, prevent burnout and increase job satisfaction. Remember, taking care of yourself is essential to providing the best care for your patients and enjoying the adventures of your travel therapy journey. You can’t pour from an empty cup!
Here are few key tips to implement today (from a travel physical therapist of 6+ years) to help you thrive during your next travel PT contract:
Daily Movement: Incorporate physical activity daily through running, walking, yoga, hiking, or virtual workouts. Utilize local gyms or community meetups via apps like Facebook events, EventBrite, or MeetUp.
Healthy Meal Prep: Use crockpots or make one-pan meals for bulk meal prep, and batch cook proteins, veggies, and grains to save time for adventures and self-care. Opt for easy, protein-dense breakfasts like greek yogurt parfaits, overnight oats, & breakfast burritos.
Sleep Hygiene: Maintain a consistent sleep schedule and pre-sleep routine, limit screen time and alcohol/caffeine intake, and create a comfortable sleep environment to sleep 7-9 hours per night.
Mental and Emotional Well-being: Practice mindfulness and meditation to regulate your nervous system, stay connected with friends and family, and find community through apps like MedVenture. Seek professional support from a counselor or coach if needed.
Balance Work and Leisure: Set boundaries at work, take regular time off during and between travel PT contracts, and plan regular adventures to ward off burnout.
Financial Health: Create a budget track expenses to stick to it, opt outside to save money, and put extra money toward debt, investments, or real estate to meet long term financial goals.
Stay Organized: Pack minimally, keep professional documentation handy, and maintain a structured routine.
Continuous Learning and Growth: Engage in personal and professional development through reading, podcasts/audibooks, in-person and online courses, and regularly reflecting on experiences.
