Dr. Joe Godges is a clinical professor of physical therapy in the USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy. Godges began his PT experience as an officer in the U.S. Army in 1980. He is certified as a manual therapist, Rolfer, and PNF practitioner. His professional development also includes receiving his MA in counseling psychology. He was one of the original 29 individuals who first received board certification as a clinical specialist in orthopaedic physical therapy in 1989. He achieved recertification in 1999, 2009 and 2019. He has spent the last 34 years of his career training physical therapy residents and fellows in clinical residency and fellowship programs for Kaiser Permanente and USC.

From 2008 to 2017, Joe served as the ICF-based clinical practice guidelines coordinator & editor for the Academy of Orthopaedic Physical Therapy of the American Physical Therapy Association. During this period, 15 CPGs were published in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy. He has also served terms on the Orthopaedic Specialty Council of the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties, on the APTA’s Committee on Clinical Residency and Fellowship Credentialing and on the AOPT and JOSPT Board of Directors. Recently, Dr. Godges has served as the coordinator of Practice Guideline Integration for the Academy of Orthopaedic Physical Therapy.

Dr. Godges has been the lead or contributing author of more than 20 peer-reviewed journal publications on several topics in orthopaedic and sports physical therapy.

He was an intercollegiate athlete in the ’70s at Pepperdine University and has put in effort in continuing to move well on running trails, ski slopes, golf links and ocean surf.