Dr. John Mark White, PT, DPT, BA, OCS

A Few Details

Dr. White's background

Private Practice Owner, United Therapeutics Corp. 2001 - Present.

  • In top 5% of clinics nationally based on excellent outcomes with patients compared across multiple domains.*
  • Excellent word-of-mouth referrals via patients and physicians based on results with difficult patient problems. 
  • Received intrastate referrals to our Oklahoma City based business for patients from Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Lawton, Woodward, Elk City, Hinton, Anadarko, Choctaw, Chickasha, Shawnee, Sulphur, Duncan, Noble, Moore, Norman, Midwest City, Del City, Yukon, Piedmont, Edmond, Mustang, etc. for complex cases seeking my expertise.
  • Received cross-country specialty referrals for patients seeking my expertise from California, Colorado, Texas.
  • Consulted on cases nationally and internationally from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, California, Hawaii, Germany, India.
  • Established practical clinical biomechanics lab for measuring and quantifying common orthopedics-related forces associated with that which is generated by or imposed upon human movement and anatomy. This allows more precise dosing of interventions, tracking and monitoring progress, and determining patient readiness to change phases of rehabilitation, referral, or readiness for discharge. 
  • Developed dynamically reactive balance training techniques, along with coordination and control drills, for functional retraining of patients with gait and balance deficits. This allows higher-level rehabilitation activities to be performed more quickly, and more safely, in this patient population. 
  • Provided clinical instruction in outpatient orthopedics to PT students nationally and internationally.
  • Recipient of National Small Business Leadership Award, 2003, 2004, 2005.
  • Small Business Ambassador to US Congress, 2003-2005.
  • Published author.
  • Clinical research scientist. Areas of interest:
    • mechanobiology
    • enhanced fracture rehabilitation
    • chronic low back pain examination, treatment, and outcomes 
    • chronic cervical spine pain examination, treatment, and outcomes
    • osteoarthritis examination, treatment, and outcomes
    • tendinosis examination, treatment, and outcomes
    • neuromotor control and coordination of complex, multi-planar movements
    • psychometric quantification of musculoskeletal psychodynamics
    • measurement and quantification of foot and ankle dynamics and their relationship with common lower extremity orthopedic problems
    • postural alignment and implications for treatment 
    • biomechanics
  • Expert witness.

Doctorate, Physical Therapy, MGH Institute of Health Professions, 2006.

  • Final Clinical Case project adopted as teaching tool for use with future students. Noted for clarity of interactive presentation of complex systems ideas in context to innovative quantification, analysis, and treatment of chronic lumbar spine pain.
  • Faculty recommended publication of my clinical study of normative data for axial skeletal alignment derived from measurements of 600 people.
  • Received commendation for novel interactive teaching methods and analytics applied in a clinical context to orthopedic case studies. Dr. Cynthia Coffin Zadai, PT, DPT, CCS, FAPTA, Professor, MGH Institute, 2006.
  • Received commendation for analysis and commentary on research design. Dr. Mary Watkins, DPT, MS, Associate Professor, MGH Institute, 2005.
  • GPA 3.925

Board Certified Clinical Specialist, Orthopedics. First certified 2001, by American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Recertification required every 10 years.

  • Recertified by portfolio review, 2011.
  • Recertified by portfolio review, 2021.

Orthopedic residency training, Kelsey Institute, 2000-2001. 

  • Developed and applied a successful treatment program for a complex comminuted fracture of a patient's acetabulum. Successful nonoperative treatment of this type of complex orthopedic problem had not been done before. Patient returned to full function and usual unrestricted activities. My work on this surgery avoidance case laid the foundation for precise mechanobiological intervention for fractured bone. 
  • Developed and taught to fellow residents and instructors a manual therapy mobilization treatment technique and treatment program for plantar fasciitis. 
  • Expanded objective quantification of changes resulting from treatments for musculoskeletal pathology. 
  • Defined and organized decision rules for patient management from intake to differential diagnoses, selection of treatment category and methods, and outcomes assessment.

Chief Outpatient Orthopedics and Sports Medicine PT, University Hospital & Children's Hospital, OKC, 1995-1999.

  • Consistently performed the work of 3 FTEs across 2-hospitals, 3 departments, and numerous specialty clinics, including outpatient orthopedics, inpatient post-surgical care, acute care, ICU, and wound care. Validated observation after discontinuing my employment to pursue independent research when a former supervisor revealed 3 PTs in succession were unable to perform my former job. Each either quit after a few weeks or months or returned to their former level of employment activities. Subsequently, 3 different FTEs were hired to do the job I did by myself. 
  • Assisted teaching OU's Physician Assistants orthopedic exam lab, spring, 2000.
  • Received letter of commendation for effectiveness, safety, and efficiency of work with orthopedically involved outpatients. Awarded by Dr. Ed Tyson, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Adolescent Medicine, OU Health Sciences Center. August, 1999.
  • Assisted production of residency talk for Dr. E Budrich, MD, Internal Medicine & Pediatrics, OU Health Sciences Center, regarding Stevens-Johnson syndrome etiology and management.
  • Developed treatment protocol and monitoring of exercise-stress-induced physiological changes in patients with severe eating disorders. Established cut-off for floor and ceiling values using in-clinic systolic and diastolic BP monitoring coupled with HR and RPE. This allowed recognition of potential impending medical crisis signaling the need for cardiology consultation and inpatient monitoring.   
  • Facilitated successful JCAHO accreditation review of outpatient PT services for adult and pediatric patients. This contributed to saving 9 PT department jobs and the recommendation for creation of 5 new full-time positions.
  • Assisted teaching internal medicine residents orthopedic examination of musculoskeletal problems, fall conference, 1999. 
  • Developed chondral-surface recovery and regeneration program for talocrural joint OA and other osteochondral lesions of the ankle.
  • Developed chondral-surface recovery and regeneration program for patellofemoral and knee joint OA and meniscal lesions.
  • Invited lecture, by Dr. David Garrison, PhD, presented to PTs in the PhD program, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. My presentation topic, "Clinical Research: Generating Evidence Through Clinical Practice." 1998.
  • Developed denervation treatment protocol for severe peripheral neurological trauma.
  • Began exploratory work examining methods to prevent paralysis due to spinal cord injuries. This work proposed utilizing immunological pathways to block protein formations which prevent healing transection injuries to the spinal cord.
  • Received letter of commendation recognizing innovation, education, and post-neurosurgery protocol development work for patients with traumatic denervation injury. This changed existing practices and established new evidence-based care. Awarded by Dr. Norman S Levine, MD, Chairman and Professor, Section of Plastic Surgery, OU Health Sciences Center. August, 1995.

PT, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, BS, 1995.

  • Collaborated with instructors to provide a more precise understanding of, and better descriptions of, concepts related to topic areas they taught and researched for years, including:
    • Movement patterns associated with certain common physical impairments.
    • Differences in palpation findings associated with different degrees of muscular tonicity.
    • Electrophysiological energy density saturation effect equivalency achievable with TENS or IFC by modulating frequency or amplitude of pulse trains per unit area.
    • Alternative approaches to biomechanical analysis of forces.
    • Environmental context and conditions impact on optimization of changes associated with human developmental stages.
    • The potential blocking effects of caffeine on neuroreceptor sites utilized by TENS for pain control.
    • Clinical detection and treatment of patients presenting with complex neurology/reflex sympathetic dystrophy.
    • Forced neural adaptation via neuroplastic change induced by constraint-based movement re-training in patients post CVA.
  • Pediatric developmental stages concepts paper adopted as teaching tool for use with future students. Noted for novelty, clarity of presentation of stage transitions and links to environmental context and conditions driving adaptive changes which are demonstrated to be conditionally affected with optimized stimuli. 
  • CAPSTONE project in complex neurology, emphasis on Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Recommended for publication.

BA, Professional Writing/Journalism, specialties in Science and Technical Writing, University of Central Oklahoma, 1989.

  • Concentration areas:
    • String Theory
    • Grand Unified Theory
    • TOE
  • Inducted Kappa Tau Alpha, National Journalism Honor Society, April 12, 1988.

Other:

  • Primatology field research, Iquitos, Peru. Red Uakari monkey population survey, habitat range determination, food sample collection, and testing radio telemetry tracking collars and equipment for field use. In cooperation with researchers from Duke University, Dallas, and Detroit zoos, 1996.
  • Rocket scientist, US Air Force JROTC, 1986.  
  • Problem solver.

* We compared our clinical outcomes to outcomes information available in insurance databases, national databases for PT services, and data from outpatient PT clinics that published their information online. Some methodological differences among data sources limit resolving this number in greater detail.

CV

"Best decision ever. My smashed hip and pelvis full of broken bones would not have recovered like it did -- without surgery -- without his help."

Dr. Phelps, PhD
International Economics

"I just want to know when I refer a patient for physical therapy, they will get the best care available, and I won't have to worry about the patient's musculoskeletal problem. That's not my area. With Mark, I've never been disappointed."

Dr. Jacobs, MD
Internal Medicine

"I had a musculoskeletal injury that I acquired playing racquetball. It nagged me for months and interfered with my work. My first visit with Mark, I felt better that day. And after that, I did what he said. No more problem."

Dr. Pittman, MD
Family Medicine

"I had a shoulder injury that prevented me from using my right arm without pain and limited mobility for a year and a half. No more sailing. My wife knew someone who knew Dr. White and suggested I see him. I did. I was skeptical when he told me what to do. Only 15 minutes of activity every other day, and in two weeks I was back to normal strength, mobility, and function. If it hadn't happened to me, I wouldn't have believed it was possible."

Dr. Lizenby, MD
Pediatrics

"When I broke a bone in my foot, I visited with a surgeon I knew. He verified the fracture with x-ray, said he could do surgery, stick a pin in the bone, and I would need to be on crutches for a while so that it could heal over a few weeks. I called Dr. White and he presented me with a different, non-surgical option. I went with him. I was back to normal in two weeks. No surgery needed."

Mr. Jay
MS, Computer Science

"My husband had bad plantar fasciitis. He was constantly in pain for months, had difficulty walking 20 feet, hurt climbing stairs, and he even had pain sleeping in bed at night. I know he was miserable. I attended his first visit with Dr. White. In a single visit, he eliminated the pain. My husband was able to walk over 60 feet pain-free as a post-intervention demonstration, and after that he had no more symptoms. If I had not witnessed what he did for someone I know but had only heard about it, I wouldn't have believed it. "

Dr. Thurman, MD, MPH
Psychiatry

"I have an extremely rare metabolic disorder, the nature of which leaves me susceptible to energy-system depletion and cascading cell death at an organ-system level. In short, if I exercise or move too much, it can be lethal. When I injured my neck and had severe pain that just wouldn't go away, I knew I was in trouble. An accompanying bleeding disorder ruled-out surgery. I saw Dr. White when my doctor, who had seen him for her own injury, referred me. She told me: He's good! Dr. White examined me, researched my medical issues, found ways to work around them, and I am happy to report success! He fixed my neck, I am pain-free and back to my usual activities. I know I was an unusual curve-ball of a patient, but he did the work necessary to figure out how to help me safely."

Mrs. Katz

"Of all the students I have taught, you were the one who seemed most to get it. What I was teaching was not as much just about the particulars of anatomy as it was about how the anatomy relates to the musculoskeletal problems that PTs are here to treat. "

Dr. David Garrison, PhD
Professor, Gross Anatomy, Neuroanatomy

"I took the 'Low Back Pain, Beyond the Cutting Edge' course and I was blown away. The material was organized, logical, well-supported with evidence, and unlike anything I had ever seen before. It changed my way of thinking. I now no longer fear this type of patient. By the end of the course I changed my practice emphasis to work as much as I can with patients with lumbar spine problems. "

Dr. Stevens, DPT
Physical Therapist

"I never knew there was so much to know about posture. Dr. White broke it down into essentials that helped me understand what was important, and what was unimportant, about this domain of musculoskeletal exam and findings. "

Dr. Matthew, DPT
Physical Therapist

"I've taken several of Dr. White's courses. What I want to know is, why was this kind of information not in PT school? "

Mr. Johnson, MPT
Attending Physical Therapist, Outpatient Orthopedics

"Thank you so much for teaching me. It is true that I like to be both challenged and educated by our supporting departments. I truly appreciate you and your efforts to educate this old doctor."

Dr. Levine, MD
Chairman and Professor, Section of Plastic Surgery

Frequently Asked Questions

Mechanobiology drives our approach to treatment of musculoskeletal problems. The neuro components too respond to mechanical stimuli, just differently. That information, and more, is incorporated to round out our biopsychosocial, mechanobiological care.

Officially at 39 technical and professional publications and counting. Much of this is professional educational material for courses I have taught, professional issues columns, features, and commentary in our state newsletter, and a few lay publications. Another large chunk has been internally generated data analysis and research used to improve and modify our methods. 

Many of my colleagues have goaded me over the years to publish my independent clinical research through the peer-review process. I have some, and there is much more to do, but I have been busy with other tasks. Mostly this has been seeing patients while running a private practice, doing consultations, and codifying the research I have done into a body of work that is clinically tested and presented at various professional meetings to allow refinement of ideas in a way different than through traditional peer-reviewed publication alone. I enjoy the interaction in this way and I believe my work, and the understanding of others, has benefitted. However, yes, more clinical research material is headed for peer reviewed publication. 

In addition to the above, I am also a martial artist (primarily American Freestyle Karate), multiply-decorated competitive fencer (foil and sabre), have been a SCUBA diver, and continue to be a weight-lifter. I have published two novels, one of which is science fiction, and the other, a thriller.

My full name is John Mark White. For reasons unknown to me, my parents always called me by my middle name. That is still what I respond to most reliably. 

For more details and color commentary about who I am, what I have done, and what I know, just ask. A version of my formal CV can be found above.

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