"The mission of CAPTE is to serve the public by establishing and applying standards that ensure quality and continuous improvement in the professional preparation of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants and that reflect the evolving nature of education, research, and practice."

Over the past decade, there has been an overwhelming amount of literature regarding pain science and why people "hurt". Pain is the primary reason why individuals seek outpatient, physical therapy services. The burden of pain worldwide is enormous, in regards to humanitarian, healthcare and financial terms. This stated, many accredited Physical Therapy programs have failed to fit pain science education into their curriculum and continue to focus on an outdated biomedical model of patient care (versus a biopsychosocial model, which supports the complex nature of pain). Given all of the recent advances and published literature on pain science, it is perplexing that its emphasis in Physical Therapy education is so limited. Physical Therapists need to be educated extensively in the complexeties of pain, so they can better assess all of the variables that modulate it and provide more effective management.