In this #TCRCC2025 preview episode, I’m joined by Dr. Kelly Martin, a rising leader in helping cancer survivors get back in the game literally.
Return to sport after cancer is an area that doesn’t get enough attention in oncology rehab, but it matters – not just for competitive athletes, but for any person ready to reclaim meaningful movement after a cancer diagnosis.
Kelly is bringing a powerful session to The Cancer Rehab Community Conference 2025, and today she’s sharing why this topic is such a critical opportunity for PTs to step up and make a real difference.
Save your seat today at The Cancer Rehab Community Conference!
Want to watch the episode instead?
Watch this week’s episode of TheOncoPT Podcast on our YouTube channel!
About Dr. Kelly Martin, PT
Kelly Martin graduated from Campbell University with her Doctorate of Physical Therapy in 2022. She became lymphedema certified from the Norton School in 2025 and is an aspiring Board Certified Oncology Clinical Specialist. After spending 2 years of practice in orthopedic and sports in Greenville, NC. Kelly joined the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center and Breast Center at the University of Virginia to expand care for patients with oncological needs across Virginia and surrounding states. Kelly has a special interest in applying her past experience to the oncology rehab space and facilitating return to sport in cancer survivors.
Transcript
Elise Cantu (00:19)
Hey, Onco PT and welcome to this episode of the Onco PT podcast. Right before we turned on the microphones to actually start recording, this guest and I were reminiscing and I’ve known this guest for three years now and I’ve seen her grow from a student about to go out on clinical rotations to being on clinical rotations to then graduating and taking her
licensure exam to now being a practicing oncology physical therapist and not just practicing in this really special area, but really stepping up and taking charge and taking command. ⁓ I have, Kelly didn’t know I was gonna do this. If you’re watching this on YouTube, you can see it right now. But in the works of making this conference session happen, I wrote down a little reminder for myself. So I would always remember it.
that on June 11th, 2025, we had a conversation and I officially decided that Dr. Kelly Martin is going to be known as the godmother of return to sport in Onco PT. And if that doesn’t tell you a little bit about the incredible speaker in session that I have on the podcast today that we are going to give you a little sneak peek on as we count down the days.
until the Cancer Rehab Community Conference 2025. My friend, you are in for a treat. I am so thrilled to welcome, as you’ve probably already guessed, Dr. Kelly Martin to the Onco PT podcast. Back again, but this time as a speaker at our upcoming Cancer Rehab Community Conference. Kelly, welcome back to the Onco PT podcast.
Kelly Martin (02:03)
Honestly, I think you just memorized exactly what you just said and present that as my intro at the conference. Because like, I don’t even know if I need to continue presenting. That was just phenomenal. And just like, you have my sticky note. ⁓ So like Elise said, my name is Kelly Martin. am.
Elise Cantu (02:08)
Done. Done. Happy.
Ha ha ha!
E-W-W
Kelly Martin (02:27)
a physical therapist. I consider myself a new professional PT still about almost three years out in clinical practice, which is crazy in and of itself because, I’ve known Elise as a student and I can’t even believe I’m right here and having an opportunity to even speak in a conference. didn’t as a little baby PT student, I didn’t see myself this close out of school and in clinical practice to even have an idea worth presenting on. ⁓
And so really just thankful to Kelly and Elise for putting this conference together and giving me a platform to present my ideas and really what’s been my brainchild over the last probably year and a half.
and kind of something on the side that I’ve been diving into. I currently am practicing in Virginia. ⁓ I see all oncology, so I split my time between a major cancer center, seeing a whole mix of head and neck cancer, stem cell transplants, gynecological cancers, and then I also split my time at a breast center. So I’m seeing all breast cancer survivors as well.
And I’ve been working for the Onco PT since I was a third year PT student, which is probably one of the best things. As a PT student, you feel super overwhelmed. And it’s like, I take on something else? And it’s probably one of the best things I did was to take on that advertisement and take a job for 100 % sure.
Elise Cantu (03:57)
my gosh, I love it.
It’s so wild. it, it feels like a lifetime ago, but also it feels like yesterday. I put something up, I think on like Twitter or something. It was then known as Twitter, right? Long time ago. ⁓ and I was like, Hey, I’m like, it’s time I’m looking for help. ⁓ and like, I remember going through the process of interviewing people and ultimately it was like, Kelly is the fit that I’m looking for right now. And it’s been so cool to get to work with you, not just at that time, but also
watching you again, really develop into the physical therapist that you are today. And also knowing like what’s in store has been so exciting. And so I’m really glad that I did finally persuade you to submit that speaker application, right? Because we do not play favorites here at the Onco PT. We do have a very democratic process by which we select our speakers. Everyone has to do an application. And so I was so thrilled because especially this topic, Kelly,
It’s very niche, it’s very new. It shouldn’t truly be though, because the amount of people that are likely trying to do this in some capacity after a cancer diagnosis, it’s not zero. And so I’m really excited to talk to you about really like returning to sport and higher levels of activity in cancer survivorship.
But I want to actually start with something first that you said earlier, which is you’ve been practicing for three years, which, you know, it’s, still some time. It’s not a lot of time in the grand scheme of things, but one of the things that’s so important to us at the cancer rehab community is to make sure that we are making an inclusive space to hear from a variety of voices. And, you know, those who have been practicing for decades in the field and have
just this mountain of experience and wisdom to share with us, but also elevating and highlighting newer voices and maybe those who haven’t been at, you know, presenting at these national conferences for years and years and years because we have something that we can learn from everybody. ⁓ So anyways, can you just give us a little bit of a backstory on what did eventually persuade you to, or, know, like,
convince you to submit for speaking at the conference this year and then what led you to this topic specifically.
Kelly Martin (06:32)
Yeah, so honestly, I remember texting you and saying and on a hundred percent I was like, she
might say no. Like I think back to your podcast, I don’t know, a couple, a couple of weeks ago now where, where it was like with growth, like take a shot and it’s okay if someone tells you no in the process. So I, so like that was even before, but there, we had other, you had other podcast conversations. We had talked about this, you know, even in my last job where really that’s where this light bulb came off.
Elise Cantu (06:47)
Okay.
Mm-hmm. Yeah,
yeah.
Kelly Martin (07:08)
And so I get to share that part of the story a little bit in my presentation. So I’m not gonna tease all, I’m gonna tease some of it that it’s coming, my background’s coming out of where this really was born for me that got me on this path. But yeah, I was in my last job and I remember talking about it and just like, I was like, know, Elise, I love the oncology population. I know this is what I wanna do and…
Elise Cantu (07:16)
Love that. I love it.
Kelly Martin (07:37)
I think I’m like, just don’t know quite yet. Like what, really what area, what diagnosis, population, whatever that really just like sets my brain on fire. Like where I’m just like, like just talk, talk, talk for hours. Could see it going in so many different directions until I got to this topic of return to sport and return to, know, high levels of training, heavy loading.
and endurance-based activities. And that was a lot of influence from my previous job, which was an outpatient in sports. And I saw in that timeframe, I saw the two populations collide, and I was like, whoa, this happens. This is something people do in clinical practice. And there’s not much out there. Okay, then.
Elise Cantu (08:30)
Yeah.
Kelly Martin (08:31)
there needs to be more out there. And so I remember we had talked about that kind of in the fall of last year and it was like, okay, there’s a lot, it felt in that moment like, yeah, I can talk and talk and talk, but like about the idea, but you know, what’s out there and how do I, you know, start making a name for myself in that niche of a topic and.
Elise Cantu (08:50)
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (08:53)
So I fully expected when I texted you to be like, you know what, she may say no, I’m not ready because she’s already you’ve already heard my thoughts on you know, where I think this could go and where my where my questions were going. And so I was like, she may say I’m no, I’m not ready. And that’s okay. If she tells me that I’m not ready, that just means I’ll, you know, bring it together and I’ll go for the next conference. And I’m and I was fully okay with you saying saying like, Kelly, actually, no, I don’t think you’re
Elise Cantu (09:01)
Mm-hmm
Kelly Martin (09:23)
and your thoughts are, you know, carried out enough to present yet, but I want to see you present in the future. So I was ready for that no, but you were like, in all caps like, yes, just submit an application. I was like, all right, deal. So put an application together and then didn’t expect either to get a yes. It was like, all right, I’m just gonna give this my shot.
and didn’t expect to get a yes was still not like, they may both say no, given everyone else that’s really, you know, bringing really great topics to the conference, you know, there’s lots of people that apply and then getting a yes and being like, okay, well then my thought is, you know, somewhat thought out, even though it’s, you know, still an evolving direction. And so I think that’s really what’s.
cool about it. And so yeah, I didn’t I didn’t picture myself three years out. Even having a platform to present with, which I think is really cool about the conference, like Elise said, is that, you know, you could be a year out in practice and have a really good idea and well thought out that you want to present and share experience, you could be 20 years into clinical practice and be
have had so much experience and wealth of knowledge to share with everyone that you also have a seat at the table, which is really cool to see the diversity that’s across, you know, clinicians experience, but also topics too.
Elise Cantu (11:01)
Yeah.
Yeah, we have a really dynamic panel of speakers this year. We’ve already heard from Alexandra Hill. ⁓ We’ve also heard from Alex Eilers on her navigating uncertainty and when I don’t know is the answer, which was a fabulous interview, fabulous conversation, very much looking forward to those sessions. We have a lot of stuff to cover. I think that’s also, Alex put it best of, this is what really this community building
elevating lots of voices with different perspectives is what really elevates our profession. And ultimately what that translates to is we have rehab professionals who are better able to go out to their communities and better show up for their patients with what they’re dealing with and what the clinical reality, which is a term that I totally stole from you, FYI. We know being able to bring that to the clinical reality of their patients and their environment in their.
Kelly Martin (11:52)
Ha ha ha.
Elise Cantu (11:59)
communities and be able to bring this high quality of cancer rehabilitation. Like that’s what this is all about. So getting more into your session, Kelly, okay, don’t give it all away, but your session title is called Getting Back in the Game Return to Sport in Cancer Survivorship, which chills just thinking of. Can you tell us a little bit about, you know,
what you’re gonna cover, what’s going to be contained within this amazing presentation that you’re doing.
Kelly Martin (12:30)
Yeah, so, you know, it’s really designed to kind of walk through, you know, areas of things. A lot of things I feel like in the beginning of it is talking about, you know, some of the basics we know. What are aspects of exercise and sport? Like what makes up an athlete when we think from a physiological standpoint? You know, what are those foundational concepts? And then weaving that into, okay, well, we know that we learned that in, you know, preparation for school, we learned that in
school as a student we talk about those things ⁓ and then it weaves into well okay well what happens with cancer you know they’re undergoing x number of treatments you name it chemo radiation surgeries you know how are those things impacting you know those foundational parts of being an athlete and really being a human you’re thinking strength endurance power agility speed
all of those things we throw around and we talk a lot about them, you know, with strength and endurance when it comes to our survivors and them combating their fatigue, them getting back to their just regular daily activities, ⁓ them hopefully at least at minimum meeting the baseline recommendations for exercise, which are provided by the ACSM.
Elise Cantu (13:51)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (13:53)
with their roundtable on cancer and cancer survivorship, that’s the minimum for these athletes. They are oftentimes at baseline, you know, exceeding those. And so thinking about knowing that, recognizing that and thinking about that when that person shows up in front of you, or it’s really about advocating so that person does show up in front of you. Because I personally think, you know,
Some of the reasons why we don’t see these people more frequently is because of their high level of function. It’s kind of in some ways a really great pro about them, but in other ways by trying to catch them sooner, when we think about like prospect of surveillance, trying to catch them sooner is the con because they’ll do well.
Elise Cantu (14:31)
Mm-hmm.
Totally, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm
Kelly Martin (14:51)
And then some of them are the hardest hit ones when it all goes down. ⁓ And so getting to talk about that a little bit through, you know, what things we know, we learn about cancer and its treatment and how those are detriments to what we know an athlete needs to have. ⁓ And then saying, okay, well, what’s out there? Cause I’ll be on it cause I’ll drop and it’s not a surprise to anyone. It’s slim.
Elise Cantu (14:58)
Yeah.
Mm hmm. Yeah.
Kelly Martin (15:20)
There’s not much out there. what is out there talking about, you know, what is out there and what does it say to us about what we can do? And then really tying it together of like, okay, so here’s what’s limited. Here’s your knowledge. Here’s what’s limited. How are we going to apply that on Monday when you go into the clinic and maybe you meet a 36 year old female breast cancer survivor just underwent a deep flap and she was running half marathons before her
Elise Cantu (15:21)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (15:49)
diagnosis and that’s what she wants to do after she recovers from her deep flap and she goes through radiation and she starts letrasol as a hormonal treatment. You know, what am I going to think about when I meet that person on that day on Monday when she walks into my clinic?
Elise Cantu (16:05)
Mm-hmm.
Yes. So honestly, a little eerie, you just described one of my patients, ⁓ slightly different, but these are the patients that we’re seeing. I think initially when we hear return to sport, we’re thinking like professional athletes, college athletes or something, but not considering the everyday athlete.
And, you know, it never really crossed my brain, truthfully, when I first got into oncology about this intersection between return to sport and oncology until, because I swam all through high school, I coached like love, love, love swimming, until Nathan Adrian, who is an Olympic swimmer, was diagnosed with cancer. And, you know, obviously like the details, you can go and look up because Nathan has shared these, you know, pretty widely.
but really appreciating because if I’m remembering the timeline correctly, he was also then trying to get back to the shape to where he could compete and then ultimately qualify for that next Olympics, whatever that was. so understanding, yes, Nathan Adrian, absolutely peak athlete at the top of his game.
And still there was a struggle to not just get back to his previous level of function, but also to get, you know, get to the point to where he could be competitive. And maybe we’re not working with Olympic swimmers, but a lot of my patients, just like what Kelly described perfectly, they are half marathoners. ⁓ I have a patient right now who is super into CrossFit.
and she’s having difficulty getting back to like, we’re kind of catching those impairments and whatnot, but getting to that next level of being able to participate at that high level of very intense physical activity, that’s a challenge for us right now. And so this is something I want the listener to really think beyond this like professional athlete. There is so much more that is really involved in this.
and is really lacking a lot of times. Like you mentioned, Kelly, for this patient population to not just get back to whatever that baseline is or, ⁓ they’ll be fine because they have good physical function beforehand. That’s not necessarily the reality that our patients are facing.
Kelly Martin (18:39)
Yeah, no, I mean, you we think about a lot about, you know, one other professional athlete that I even remember even before I was like really hard thinking about, you know, this idea of the world, the two worlds colliding of, you know, sport and oncology and those two realms kind of starting to cross paths with each other. I remember his name is Liam Hendrix. He’s a baseball pitcher and he was diagnosed with
Elise Cantu (18:51)
Mm-hmm.
around, we had talked about him.
Kelly Martin (19:09)
I want to say Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I know it was lymphoma. It may have been non Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but either way, lymphoma of some form underwent treatment for it and then was able to return back to the mound. And then he tore his ACL.
Elise Cantu (19:17)
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (19:27)
which are having to have Tommy John surgery. And I remember thinking like, well, why would that have happened? Would I mean, anything can be a fluke, you know, but why would that have happened? The first season he returned to sport after his diagnosis, you know, and starting with, and I remember like going on Twitter and
Elise Cantu (19:31)
my God.
Of Of course.
Kelly Martin (19:50)
I think I tagged Andrew Chong away and maybe Adam Matichak as PTs because I knew they were in the realm and they’re like it like they know more than me and what their thoughts were. And then I think I tagged some other sports PTs ⁓ like Mike Reynolds and Lenny Macarena, which are big in champion PT, which is like big baseball hub up in there in Massachusetts, I think. And
Elise Cantu (20:02)
Mm-hmm.
Nice.
Okay. Okay.
Kelly Martin (20:17)
So I was like, what are y’all’s thoughts? Like, where’s this like collab here? We’ve got some oncology and we’ve got some big baseball sport people. Like, why would this have potentially happened? It could have just been a fluke, but you know, given his, player’s history was like, what did they? ⁓
Elise Cantu (20:28)
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (20:37)
What did they test before he went back on the mound? I don’t know. It just opens up a whole, I haven’t read a case study yet about him, but I think it would have been a really cool one to understand his journey or just him, you know, share more and reflect more on that and his team. Just because yeah, it was like, wait a minute. Well, these people that have a high desire to go back to some, you know, competitive play, if you, you know, just like with an ACL, if you don’t rehab,
Elise Cantu (20:46)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (21:07)
well enough, you’re gonna get it, you’re at a higher risk for getting another injury, you know, for whatever reason. And it’s not necessarily that everything he went through caused that, but you know, just it gets you thinking of like, hmm, I wonder what if, if any, is there any correlation? Was there anything going on, you know?
Elise Cantu (21:12)
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Right.
Kelly Martin (21:29)
Did he ever have rehab? I have no idea. But he’s like another one where you could like, it’d be really powerful to hear their perspective. But then the everyday person that wants to crossfit at five days a week like they were doing and compete on the weekends, ⁓ you know, run marathons, you know, those people are doing, you think about, I’ve run a marathon, but tight, just training for it is hard. That’s the hardest part about doing it. And so.
Elise Cantu (21:54)
Yep. Yeah.
Kelly Martin (21:58)
being when someone’s undergone six cycles of chemo and now they’re fun, they could run for two hours and now they can walk for five. It’s like, okay, we’ve got some work to do here and to really get you, to pull you back up to speed, ⁓ which is like so exciting. I feel like that’s where we can.
Elise Cantu (22:12)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
Kelly Martin (22:21)
You know, we always get creative in intervention and clinical practice, but I feel like this just opens up a whole nother like door of opportunity to get even more creative. ⁓ And really, Mel, again, another world where I’ve always felt like oncology, PT is a place where you can’t. It’s so dynamic and it’s so multi-system that you can’t, you know, you always have to be brushing up on.
Elise Cantu (22:31)
my gosh.
Kelly Martin (22:47)
the other topics in the world of PT, your musculoskeletal, your neuro, your cardiopalm, you your integmentary, you gotta, you have to have that fresh. Sometimes you’re like, I need to go look that up, but like, you know where to find it. ⁓ You have to stay, it has to keep moving in your brain all the time. And sport is one of them too.
Elise Cantu (22:50)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
⁓ man. OK, that’s that’s a really powerful mic drop. I want to make sure that we highlight this, too. So, you know, everything that Kelly has been saying so far, like obviously like a man girl. But also the reality of the landscape in oncology in 2025 is that people, more people are getting diagnosed with cancer at earlier ages. And while we want.
all of our patients to be meeting those, you know, the minimum standards set forth by the ACSM, which helps us, you know, like this is how to be healthy as, you know, doing aerobic and, ⁓ resistance training, balance training, et cetera. We are likely going to be encountering more patients who are participating at these high levels of activity who are then diagnosed with cancer and are then stuck with, I going to be able to get back to doing the things that I love?
So like all that Kelly is saying and then to put like an extra sense of urgency on why this is so necessary to talk about. Because again, I am not a sport PT. I’m not working with athletes, at least in my mind. But then I go and like you said, when you were introducing that patient at the top of the episode, I was like, oh my God, that’s like my patient right now that I’m talking about. And then I thought of my CrossFit athlete, for example, like.
These are the patients that we’re seeing in our community. And it’s really important to make sure if it’s important to them, it needs to be important to us. And so we need to be helping patients get to that level of participation that they desire to. You’ve already hit us with a major mic drop quote there, Kelly, that I’ll absolutely be using again. ⁓
Without giving everything away in your presentation, what is maybe another mic dropper surprising insight that you’ll be sharing at your session?
Kelly Martin (25:10)
So when you prompted me with just some questions to be thinking about in prep for this podcast, when I read that one, I was like, what? What am I gonna mic drop? I don’t know. I, you know.
It’s my first presentation, so there’s nerves surrounded by like, I’m gonna be presenting to people that are 20 years into practice and know what they’re talking about. And so it’s like, okay, there’s some expectation behind it. And so I was like, what kind of my trap am I gonna do? So the one thing I thought of was even right now, from now to conference day when you hear me present, be thinking about the phrase, beginning with the end in mind.
and thinking about what does that mean to you as a PT? What does that mean to you as potentially a PT getting into oncology? What does that mean to the oncopT that’s already in it? For regardless of how long you’ve been in it, beginning with the end in mind. That phrase, I was like, that’s kind of, as I bring that into my presentation, know.
That’s a good thing to be, you know, meddling on, thinking on, reflecting on, and what that means to you.
Elise Cantu (26:26)
love that. What is one thing that attendees will walk away with after listening and watching your presentation?
Kelly Martin (26:38)
I really want people to walk away feeling confident of on Monday morning when the 40 year old marathoner walks into your clinic and is getting ready to undergo a lumpectomy and radiation for their breast cancer diagnosis and they want to go back to marathon running that you can say, okay, we’re going to tackle that together.
I know that that may sound, you may be questioning me and your own ability, but you are, your patients are powerful and they’re strong and they have the endurance to go on this journey. And so you’re going to be right there beside them and just the confidence knowing that you’re going to be able to, after this session, relay that to your patient so artfully.
and then act upon it throughout their journey so that in the end, you’re getting a, they’re showing you a photo of them with their medal.
Elise Cantu (27:48)
⁓
Kelly Martin (27:51)
Just like, it’s like a reel. It’s like a whole movie reel. It really, you know, when we think about returning to sport for some people’s journeys, it’s long. It’s long, it’s gonna be hard. You know, it’s questioning their, you know, just like with any other injury, it’s questioning their identity as an athlete and as a person when it’s something that’s meant so much to them. And I mean, cancer already does that. It does it like 10 times over, which sucks.
Elise Cantu (27:51)
Love that so much.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Kelly Martin (28:18)
but that you can be in clinic and have that conversation with the patient and say, you know, I’m alongside you. I’m the right person. I’m the right addition to your team. You know, we’re gonna put this together. And…
Elise Cantu (28:31)
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (28:40)
That’s so powerful for the patient. That’s so powerful for the PT.
Elise Cantu (28:47)
There’s nothing quite like, so this past February, I think it was, my patient did the Cowtown half marathon here in Fort Worth and getting to follow along, because I volunteered at a water station, getting to follow along with her bib number on the app and be like, ⁓ she just crossed mile three. ⁓ she’s halfway there. she’s almost like she’s almost at the finish line. That
Man, you know, we talk about all these like really cool things that we do as on copetes and getting to walk slash run with your patient along these milestones towards that finish line, whatever that is for them. ⁓ that just makes me feel so good inside and like, ⁓ man, we did that together. She did most of the work. Don’t get me wrong. But getting to be on the team, like you talked about earlier, Kelly, to make that
Kelly Martin (29:24)
and
Yes.
Elise Cantu (29:45)
happen is so dang cool. my gosh. I love that so much.
Kelly Martin (29:49)
Yeah, it’s
probably one of my patients I previously worked with. Wonderful, wonderful person. And they reached out to me and I was like, wait, I hadn’t heard from them in a while. And they reached out to me and I was like, wait a minute, why is this person reaching out to me? We’ve kind of kept up with each other peripherally and she reached out to me and I was like, wait a minute.
Elise Cantu (30:04)
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (30:16)
is something wrong? what’s, I was like, that’s weird. Just haven’t heard from you, haven’t heard from you in a while. And then for them to, she had a question. She was like, you know, even I probably hadn’t, know, we hadn’t probably directly spoken in, I don’t know, probably six months, maybe eight months. And.
Elise Cantu (30:21)
Sure, sure.
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (30:41)
She had a question and she thought, okay, Kelly would probably have the answer to my inquiry. And then we, you know, caught up. We took the rest of the conversation to catch up on how things were going for her. then like the more she was talking and just kind of updating me on how things have been, I was like, ⁓ my gosh, I feel like really honored right now that she thought me.
Elise Cantu (30:46)
Yes. Yes.
Kelly Martin (31:06)
that I, she had a question about something and she thought I was going to be the person, you know, to answer that question for her. So she called me and I was like, I told her that I just had to stop and be like, I’m sorry. Like I’m just really taken aback. I like feel really honored. Like that really means a lot to me as a clinician that, know, someone I worked with, you know, a year, eight months out, like had a question and was like, I’m going to text Kelly first.
Elise Cantu (31:12)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Kelly Martin (31:32)
because she probably knows. It’s like, that’s so awesome. And then, you know, we see you. I told a patient earlier this week as like, I’m like, love my patients, but I don’t want to see you in clinic. I want to run into you at your race in the grocery store and whatever. And being like, Hey, how you doing? And just hearing how well you’re doing. I want to run into you in the community. So my job is to get you back to that. So that’s where I run into you in the future.
Elise Cantu (31:52)
Yeah.
Kelly Martin (31:59)
because that’s really where I want to see most people. I want to see everyone there versus in my four walls of my clinic.
Elise Cantu (32:03)
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Kelly Martin (32:08)
But
yeah, it’s just really so cool to be a part of it.
Elise Cantu (32:10)
So cool.
As we wrap up our conversation today, Kelly, stepping back from, know, obviously we’ve talked a lot about your session, looking at the conference as a whole, what are you most excited about for the Cancer Rehab Community Conference 2025?
Kelly Martin (32:29)
I think it goes without saying, I’m really excited, also nervous, but excited to have the opportunity to speak, to speak in an area that I’m passionate about, have that opportunity. So again, just like so grateful that I have the opportunity and the platform to do that because I’ve been a listener for the past two years. And so,
Elise Cantu (32:35)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (32:52)
Now I get to, you know, talk about something that I’m really passionate about and share some knowledge with people and have them walk away feeling more confident in an area that maybe they hadn’t thought about before. Or maybe they thought about it. Maybe there’s future collaborations with people who mean like, Hey, I thought about, I’ve been thinking about this. You’re passionate about it too. Let’s, you know, let’s hash this out together. I’m all about collaboration. And I think just the diversity of other topics that are in the lineup.
Elise Cantu (33:05)
Mm-hmm.
Yessss
Kelly Martin (33:23)
because I think that’s, again, I said it before, that’s what keeps me coming as a listener. everyone, even if they’ve already presented before at the rehab conference, they’re coming back with another topic that’s just spot on and getting to see where these topics start to intertwine with each other. So you’re listening to someone speaking, you’re like, well, man, that reminded me what…
Elise Cantu (33:47)
Yeah.
Kelly Martin (33:52)
Alex Hill said in her presentation and then you hear someone else do it and you’re like, my gosh, that panel talking is exactly what we heard first. It’s like you just start seeing them all intertwined together too. So just the applicability of it is just awesome.
Elise Cantu (34:09)
So exciting.
So exciting.
Kelly Martin (34:12)
There’s clearly many things that make me excited about this conference.
We could keep going.
Elise Cantu (34:17)
Good though, good though.
Like these are all good things to be excited about. And I’m glad there’s an abundance of things to be excited about. I mean, obviously, you know, we sit behind the scenes and we’re like, muahaha, we have so many cool things coming up this conference, but to hear it from someone else who’s like a little removed from it is very, exciting.
Kelly Martin (34:35)
Yeah, no, it’s awesome. being able to, I remember one of our, I think it was our director of rehab sent an email to a group of us who are all involved ⁓ in oncology, whether it’s on the inpatient side or the outpatient side, a mix. ⁓
Elise Cantu (34:47)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Martin (35:00)
she was like, is this a good conference to go to? And I was immediately responded and said, yes, yes it is. It is a good conference and PS, I’m also potentially presenting in this conference. I am presenting in this conference. But yes, it’s a great, it’s a great, I recommend the community to anyone. ⁓
Elise Cantu (35:06)
to great conference.
Kelly Martin (35:18)
And so it was like, it’s starting to, we were talking about this even before the podcast started was like just the, the spread of oncology rehab and things moving in this younger area of clinical practice, moving and going, you know, literally internationally sometimes, but you start, you start, you start seeing it in, for me, I’m seeing it in my workplace and I’m like, heck yeah, join the cancer rehab community. And, you know, then hearing like, it’s going into other countries.
Elise Cantu (35:22)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Kelly Martin (35:48)
and just even that that mashup and collaboration is just awesome. It’s just awesome to hear and know that that’s happening.
Elise Cantu (35:48)
Yeah.
Pretty cool.
Pretty exciting stuff. Where can people follow you or connect with you to continue this conversation, Kelly?
Kelly Martin (36:07)
So definitely on the cancer rehab community, I’m on there very frequently, whether I’m posting my own questions or chatting about topics on the community board. So definitely there. And ⁓ I’m also on X or Twitter, ⁓ Kmart, DPT. You can find me there as well. so.
Elise Cantu (36:15)
Heck yeah, girl.
Kelly Martin (36:33)
I’m pumped. you have this interest too, please let me know. I want to collaborate with you. I want you. I want you to join me.
Elise Cantu (36:44)
We want you. That needs to be, like, we need to get a screenshot of you, like that old poster.
Kelly Martin (36:47)
I know, I need a meme of being like, I want you to collaborate,
please.
Elise Cantu (36:53)
want you for the cancer rehab community. That’s going to be the promo that we do. Well, once again, Dr. Kelly Martin’s session is called Getting Back in the Game Return to Sport in Cancer Survivorship. She is presenting at the Cancer Rehab Community Conference 2025, which takes place virtually on Friday and Saturday, November 7th and 8th, 2025. And we cannot wait to see you there. We have the link in the show notes where you can save your seat today. Make sure that you do that.
Kelly Martin (36:57)
Yes.
Elise Cantu (37:23)
Time is ticking. We are just a few short weeks away and we are so, so excited and cannot wait to see you there. So Kelly, thank you so much for joining us once again. We are very much looking forward to your session. And until next time, this is Elise with the Onco PT. And remember, you are exactly the physical therapist that your patients with cancer need. So let’s get to work.