Progressive GaitWays Founder and Cusick Center for Learning Instructor Billi (Beverly) Cusick
Meet Progressive GaitWays Co-Founder

Billi Cusick, PT, MS, NDT, COF/BOC

Billi (Beverly) Cusick is an internationally known pediatric physical therapist whose specialty is the orthopedic and orthotic management of children with cerebral palsy and other neuromotor deficits.

The Official Cusick Bio

Billi Cusick, PT, MS, NDT, COF/BOC, received her BS in PT from Bouve College at Northeastern University (Boston) in 1972, and her MS in Clinical and College Teaching for Allied Health Professionals from the University of Kentucky in Lexington (1988).

She is an Associate Professor for the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions – Pediatrics Program – Provo, Utah (2006-present) and is NDT basic- and baby-trained.

Beginning in 1976, Ms. Cusick worked for nine years on staff at
Children’s Rehabilitation Center (now the Kluge Center) in Charlottesville, VA. She then taught pediatrics-related courses for three years as a member of the PT Education faculty of the College of Health-Related Professions at MUSC in Charleston, SC. In Charleston, she also initiated and directed PT services for the Division of Developmental Disabilities at the Medical University of South Carolina.

In 1988, she earned an MS in Clinical and College Teaching for Allied Health Professionals at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, where she also consulted for Cardinal Hill Hospital’s Head Trauma and Pediatrics teams. She then served for four years, offering assistance and consultation to the PT Department of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at
Stanford.

Since 1993, Billi has been consulting and practicing privately in or near Telluride, Colorado. There, she maintains a private practice, devoting most of her professional effort to generating literature and educational materials, to teaching, and to developing therapeutic products, including her invention, TheraTogs systems.

Billi co-founded TheraTogs, Inc. in 2006, and served as the president of the company until 2020. She now holds an emeritus role as Chief Science Officer for TheraTogs, Inc. which designs and manufactures customizable physical rehabilitation systems that are worn under the client’s clothing to address neuromotor, orthopedic, and postural conditions in children and adults.

Publications

Since 1978 Billi has written or co-authored numerous publications, including:

⸺ Progressive Casting and Splinting for Lower Extremity Deformity in Children with Neuromotor Dysfunction (1990), a full-length text, in print through 2009.

⸺ Serial Casts: Their Use in the Management of Spasticity-Induced Foot Deformity (1990), an illustrated manual, still in print.

⸺ Legs & Feet: A Review of Musculoskeletal Assessments (1997, revised 2005), an instructional DVD.

⸺ Foot Talk (2009), a two hour lecture on functional foot anatomy and closed chain biomechanics, accompanied by a CD with lecture handouts and related references.

⸺ Lower Extremity Developmental Features (2000), a home study monograph for the APTA’s Orthopedic Section.

⸺ Serial Casting to Restore Soft Tissue Extensibility in the Ankle and Foot (2000) — a monograph.

⸺ Serial Casting for the Restoration of Soft Tissue Extensibility in the Ankle and Foot (2007 and 2009) — a monograph.

⸺ Cast Fabrication Techniques #1: The FlexCast Preparatory AFO (2000), a video and manual.

⸺ Several textbook chapters, articles for journals, conference proceedings, and professional newsletters, including a series (2006 and 2007) on Pediatric Orthopedics for the NDTA Network.

Training and Speaking Events

In addition to teaching individual courses, Billi has guest-lectured at annual conferences of the APTA, the AOPA, the NDTA, and the American Academy of CP and Developmental Medicine; at the ISPO Consensus Conference for Orthotics in CP; for the British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists; at the International Conference on Cerebral Palsy in Sydney, Australia.

Since 1977, she has conducted over 400 courses and guest presentations in the USA, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, and New Zealand. She’s also toured Australia four times, twice as a guest instructor for the Australian Physiotherapy Association’s Pediatric Special Interest Group.

A curriculum vita is available upon request.