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PESI For PTs, OTs & Rehab Professionals
November 18, 2026 12:00–4:00 PM Pacific

Rethinking Frailty:
Why Your "Too Fragile to Treat" Patients
Are Your Biggest Opportunity

  • Screen for pre-frailty -- the reversible window most clinicians miss entirely
  • Dose exercise for patients who fatigue in minutes without triggering setbacks
  • Address sleep, nutrition, and social factors accelerating the frailty cascade
  • Apply precision rehabilitation: right person, right intensity, right time

Mike Studer, PT, DPT, MHS, NCS, FAPTA

APTA Clinician of the Year -- Neurologic & Geriatric Academies
35+ Years Clinical Practice

35+
Years Clinical Practice
3.5
CE Hours Available
2x
APTA Clinician of the Year
90
Days Replay Access

One-third of adults over 65 meet criteria for frailty -- and most are undertreated because we have accepted decline as inevitable. But the research tells a different story: frailty is often preventable, frequently reversible, and always worth addressing.

The problem? Many clinicians aren't confident screening for pre-frailty, don't know how to dose exercise for patients with low physiologic reserve, or miss the cognitive, social, and nutritional factors that accelerate the frailty cascade.

Dr. Mike Studer -- named Clinician of the Year by both the Neurologic and Geriatric Academies of the APTA -- has spent 35+ years proving that even severely-impaired patients can improve through person-specific intervention.

In this course, you'll get concrete strategies to identify frailty early, intervene effectively, and help patients rebuild the resilience they've lost -- using precision rehabilitation principles that match the right intervention to the right person at the right time.

This course covers what textbooks skip: how to personalize care and safely prescribe "exercise in disguise" for patients who fatigue in minutes; the sleep-frailty-cognition connection your patients aren't hearing about; and why pre-frailty is the clinical sweet spot most therapists are missing entirely.

Course Outline

What You'll Master in 4 Focused Modules

The Frailty You're Missing

  • Frailty vs. pre-frailty vs. normal aging -- why the distinction changes everything
  • Physical, cognitive, and social presentations: how they cluster and compound
  • Screening tools that take minutes, not paperwork
  • The $12,000-per-patient cost most systems aren't tracking

The Factors Fueling the Decline

  • Sleep and recovery: why your exhausted patients aren't bouncing back
  • Nutrition for the non-dietitian: sarcopenia, protein needs, and when to refer
  • Polypharmacy, isolation, and the accelerators hiding in plain sight

Exercise in Disguise

  • Why traditional dosing backfires with fragile patients
  • Precision rehabilitation: right person, right intensity, right time
  • Practical progressions for patients everyone else has given up on

Catching Frailty Before the Cascade

  • Pre-frailty: the reversible window most clinicians miss
  • Prevention strategies that work in real-world practice
  • What you can do Monday morning with your current caseload
  • Risks and limitations
Click here for the objectives and outline

The Frailty You're Missing

  • Frailty vs. pre-frailty vs. normal aging -- why the distinction changes everything
  • Physical, cognitive, and social presentations: how they cluster and compound
  • Screening tools that take minutes, not paperwork
  • The $12,000-per-patient cost most systems aren't tracking

The Factors Fueling the Decline

  • Sleep and recovery: why your exhausted patients aren't bouncing back
  • Nutrition for the non-dietitian: sarcopenia, protein needs, and when to refer
  • Polypharmacy, isolation, and the accelerators hiding in plain sight

Exercise in Disguise

  • Why traditional dosing backfires with fragile patients
  • Precision rehabilitation: right person, right intensity, right time
  • Practical progressions for patients everyone else has given up on

Catching Frailty Before the Cascade

  • Pre-frailty: the reversible window most clinicians miss
  • Prevention strategies that work in real-world practice
  • What you can do Monday morning
  • Risks and limitations
 

Learning Objectives

  1. Identify frailty and pre-frailty in patients within standard evaluation timeframes to improve function.
  2. Modify exercise dosing and progression strategies for patients with low physiologic reserve to improve mobility and reduce fall risk.
  3. Identify sleep, nutrition, and social factors contributing to functional decline.
  4. Develop intervention plans targeting pre-frailty to prevent progression and preserve independence in daily activities.
Learning Objectives

After This Training, You Will Be Able To:

Apply validated screening tools to identify frailty and pre-frailty in patients within standard evaluation timeframes

Modify exercise dosing and progression strategies for patients with low physiologic reserve to improve mobility and reduce fall risk

Identify sleep, nutrition, and social factors contributing to functional decline and integrate appropriate referrals into the plan of care

Develop intervention plans targeting pre-frailty to prevent progression and preserve independence in daily activities

Your Instructor

Mike Studer

PT, DPT, MHS, NCS, CEEAA, CWT, CSST, CBFP, CSRP, FAPTA

APTA Clinician of the Year -- Neurologic & Geriatric Academies

Dr. Mike Studer has spent over 35 years proving that even severely impaired patients can improve through person-specific intervention. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association and holds specialty certifications across neurologic, geriatric, and exercise science domains.

Named Clinician of the Year by both the APTA Neurologic and Geriatric Academies, Studer brings unmatched clinical depth to the challenge of frailty -- challenging the "too fragile to treat" assumption that leads to undertreated patients and preventable functional decline.

His published research on "Exercise in Disguise" and the CAMMO framework has directly shaped how leading rehabilitation programs approach frailty intervention in SNF, home health, and outpatient settings.

Exclusive Course Content

What Textbooks Skip -- And Your Patients Need

The Sleep-Frailty-Cognition Connection

Your exhausted patients aren't just tired -- poor sleep accelerates the frailty cascade through mechanisms most clinicians have never been taught. Learn to identify and address it.

Exercise in Disguise

Traditional exercise dosing backfires with fragile patients. Studer's CAMMO framework prescribes meaningful activity patients don't experience as "exercise" -- and it works even when reserve is minimal.

The Pre-Frailty Sweet Spot

Pre-frailty is reversible -- but only if you catch it. Most therapists miss this window entirely. You'll leave with validated tools that screen for it in minutes within a standard evaluation.

What Clinicians Say About Mike Studer

Consistently Rated Among the Best CE Experiences in Rehab

Mike Studer is the best educator for PT neuroplasticity education in my opinion.

Past Attendee

Physical Therapist

This was an excellent course! I've been a PT for 26 years and it's a different way of treating from what I was taught in school.

Past Attendee

Physical Therapist, 26 Years in Practice

Presenter was so knowledgeable, had great teaching style -- enjoyed his videos and specific therapeutic ideas.

Past Attendee

Physical Therapist

Reviews from previous Mike Studer trainings.

Who Should Attend

Built for Rehabilitation & Geriatric Professionals

Physical Therapists (PT) Physical Therapy Assistants (PTA) Occupational Therapists (OT) OT Assistants (OTA) Geriatric Care Managers SNF Clinicians Home Health Professionals
Register Today

Your Frail Patients Are Waiting for a Clinician Who Doesn't Give Up

The window to reverse pre-frailty is real -- and narrow. Every day without the right screening and intervention approach is a missed opportunity for meaningful functional improvement.

Join Dr. Mike Studer and walk away with a precision rehab framework you can apply immediately to your most challenging geriatric cases.

The training runs 12:00--4:00 PM Pacific and includes 30 minutes of scheduled break time.

Group Registration

Train More. Pay Less. Implement Together.

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10% Off

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20% Off

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Questions about group registration? Call 1-800-844-8260

NOTE: No additional discounts or coupons may be applied to this course.