Dr. J. Wesley McWhorter, MPT, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Dr. McWhorter received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Brigham Young University in 1977 and 1988, respectively. He received his MPT degree from the U.S. Army-Baylor Program in Physical Therapy in 1979. He served as assistant chief of physical therapy at Darnall Army Community Hospital from 1979 till 1982. He has worked in several outpatient clinics and has specialized in treating patients with orthopedic and sports related injuries. From 1983 until 1986, he worked as an Assistant Professor in the School of Allied Health Professions at Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana and taught at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston from 1987 through 1989 as an Assistant Professor. In 1989, he returned to work at Louisiana State University Medical Center where he stayed until 1999. Seven of those years he was director of the Physical Therapy Program. His research interests include biomechanics, the effects of verbal motivation on exercise in children, kinesiology of running injuries, and fitness levels of professional students. He teaches research, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, prosthetic and orthotic evaluation and treatment, and exercise physiology.

Research Interests

Biomechanics of gait, motivation of adolescents during
isokinetic testing, fitness evaluation of professional students during their
tenure in school, post surgical rehabilitation of knee injuries, effects of
steroids on soft tissue injuries, effects of motor planning on motor cognition, critical thinking in graudate education.

Education

Brigham Young University, B.S. Pre-Physical Therapy - 1977

US Army Baylor Program, M.P.T. Physical Therapy -1979.

Brigham Young University,  Ph.D  Therapeutic Exercise & Rehabilitation - 1988.

Professional Experience

Staff physical therapist in US  Army 5 years, Sports
Medicine Private Practice 2 years, faculty member and program director at
Louisiana State University in the Physical Therapy Department for 13 years,
faculty member at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston for 2
years, home health physical therapist for 15 years.