Continuing Education
A two-day, hands-on course for licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants.
This two-day course provides licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants with structured, supervised familiarization in musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging, weighted toward the orthopedic and sports conditions most often encountered in outpatient physical therapy.
Instruction covers ultrasound physics and instrumentation, image optimization, probe handling and ergonomics, recognition of common artifacts, the normal sonographic appearance of musculoskeletal tissues, and standardized regional scanning protocols for the shoulder, elbow (including a dedicated medial elbow and ulnar collateral ligament segment), wrist and hand, hip and thigh, knee (including joint effusion assessment), and ankle and foot. A didactic image-review session addresses the sonographic appearance of healing and postsurgical tissue, including graft sites and degenerative change, and the referral considerations those findings raise.
Seventy percent of instructional time — 590 of 840 minutes, spread across nine supervised scanning laboratories — is spent with a probe in your hand, in small-group format with structured instructor feedback against written protocol checklists. Didactic content is distributed between the laboratories rather than front-loaded, so each block of theory is introduced against images you have already acquired yourself. The final afternoon is a station-based capstone laboratory.
The course is introductory. It is not a credentialing or certification program, does not prepare participants for the RMSK or any other credentialing examination, and does not confer independent diagnostic competency. Scope-of-practice, documentation and referral considerations for imaging within physical therapist practice are addressed didactically on Day 2. Participants scan peers only; no patient care occurs and no diagnostic interpretation is rendered.
Machine orientation and first probe contact, then straight into scanning: normal tissue appearance, followed by ultrasound physics and an instrument-controls laboratory, the shoulder protocol and shoulder laboratory, probe handling and artifact recognition, then the elbow and the wrist and hand as separate regional blocks, each with its own demonstration and supervised laboratory. Five scanning laboratories, 295 of 420 minutes hands-on.
Day 1 review and knowledge check, then supervised laboratories covering the hip and thigh, the knee including suprapatellar recess and effusion assessment, and the ankle and foot; didactic image review of healing, postsurgical and degenerative tissue; scope of practice, documentation and referral; closing with an eighty-five-minute capstone laboratory at upper- and lower-extremity stations. Four scanning laboratories, 295 of 420 minutes hands-on.
A full minute-by-minute schedule, including all break and lunch times, is available on request and was filed with the Board as part of the course application.
Ethan D. Brinkmann, PT, DPT, RMSK — owner of Enigma DPT and Ultrasonography, Mankato, Minnesota. Minnesota physical therapist license no. 9966. Registered in Musculoskeletal Sonography (RMSK) through Inteleos/APCA. Certified Lymphedema Therapist through Klose Training. Doctor of Physical Therapy, University of Minnesota; Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology, University of Minnesota.
He completed the Fellowship in Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography through the American Academy of Manipulative Therapy — all six courses of the MSKU sequence, 114 contact hours — in October 2025. This is a continuing education certificate program. It is not an ABPTRFE-accredited post-professional fellowship. He is a guest lecturer in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at the University of Minnesota, and musculoskeletal ultrasound is the core clinical service of his practice.
Tuition is $1,250 per participant. Email ethan@enigmadpt.com or call (612) 940-0749 to register. Registration is confirmed on receipt of tuition and seats are assigned in the order registrations are received. Because supervised scanning time is the substance of this course, enrollment is capped at eight participants. Registration closes Friday, December 18, 2026.
Cancellation more than 30 days before the course date: full refund. Between 30 and 14 days: 50% refund, or full credit toward a future course. Fewer than 14 days: no refund, but the registration may be transferred to another licensed physical therapist or physical therapist assistant at no charge. If Enigma DPT and Ultrasonography cancels the course for any reason, every registrant receives a full refund of tuition.
Because New Jersey continuing education approval is still pending, any registrant who enrolls in reliance on that approval may cancel for a full refund at any time up to seven days before the course if the Board has not granted approval by then.
This course is advertised and made available to all physical therapy licensees on a non-discriminatory basis. Enigma DPT and Ultrasonography does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law, in the advertising of its courses, in admission to its courses, or in the conduct of instruction.
Requests for reasonable accommodation are welcome. Contact ethan@enigmadpt.com at least 21 days before the course date so arrangements can be made with the host facility.
Participants sign in and out each day. Each participant who completes the course receives a certificate of completion showing the course title, dates and location, the participant's name and license number, the number of credits awarded, and the sponsor's name and contact information. If the Board approves the course, the approval number appears on the certificate.
Concerns about course content, instruction or administration may be directed in writing to Ethan Brinkmann at ethan@enigmadpt.com. Written concerns receive a written response within 30 days.
