Physical therapy is all about taking care and rehabilitating those who are hit by strokes or injured in accidents. A physical therapist is concerned with treatment, prevention and management of physical disorders due to injuries. In other words, he is expected to help physically disabled person lead his life independently. He has to study the patient’s medical history and chalk out treatment procedure. During the treatment, he documents the patient’s progress, conducts periodic examinations and modifies the treatment accordingly. Very often, he consults and practices with a variety of professionals such as physicians, dentists, nurses, educators, social workers, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and audiologists.
Generally physical therapists deal with a wide range of ailments. Some of them specialize in areas like pediatrics, geriatrics, orthopedics, sports medicine, neurology, and cardiopulmonary physical therapy.
Physical therapists are employed temporarily or permanently. The salaries vary depending upon one’s education, experience, specialized skills and the post one seeks. Besides the salary, they get life insurance, health care insurance, referral bonus, completion bonus, reallocation allowance, retirement plan benefits and cancer insurance.
Hospitals, health clinics, nursing homes, and rehab centers are the places where physical therapists find openings. If interested, a physical therapist can find a place in universities. There is great demand for physical therapists in medical colleges, organizations and sports departments.
If you want to become a physical therapist, you must have, besides certain skills, suitable education and training.
First of all you must have strong interpersonal skills as you have to educate patients about their physical therapy treatment and communicate with their families. You must be compassionate and have desire to help a patient.
To practice as a physical therapist, one must have a master’s degree from an accredited physical therapy program and clear a national or a state licensing examination. A doctoral degree improves job prospects.
Any physical therapy education program starts with basic science courses such as biology, chemistry, and physics and then introduces specialized courses, including biomechanics, neuroanatomy, human growth and development, manifestation of diseases, examination techniques, and therapeutic procedures. Besides getting classroom and laboratory instruction, students receive supervised clinical exposure. The program runs for two years.
Undergraduate courses such as anatomy, biology, chemistry, social science, mathematics, and physics are useful for this two-year program. For admission, many programs insist on volunteer experience in physical therapy department of a hospital or a clinic. By volunteering with the school athletic trainer, high school students can gain this experience.
Many states require continuing education as a condition for retaining the license. Hence physical therapists should participate in continuing education programs and workshops.
