What is Physical Therapy?
Physical therapy can relieve someone’s pain, improve his or her mobility or functionality, address surgeries and the use of prescription drugs, and it serves other purposes that strive to enhance the patient’s overall health.
What do Physical Therapists do?
Physical therapists are the medical experts who communicate, diagnose, and treat patients of all ages who either have current issues that need to be dealt with, have worries about their future health, or want to continue to maintain their healthy and active lives. Such therapists often provide hands-on care and prescribe goals or exercises to restore healthy functionality and movement for patients that see them. A unique feature of being in the physical therapy profession or medical field is that the work setting could be in a hospital, clinic, a patient’s home, or even at a fitness facility.
How do I become a Physical Therapist?
In order to become a practicing physical therapist (in the United States) someone must earn a doctor of physical therapy degree from an accredited PT education program and pass a state licensure exam. The physical therapist education program or doctor of physiotherapy program (DPT) generally requires 3-5 years in which 80% is devoted to classroom content (variety of science and medical areas) and lab study while 20% is devoted to clinical education.
References:
“Becoming a Physical Therapist.” APTA, www.apta.org/your-career/careers-in-physical-therapy/becoming-a-pt#:~:text=What%20Physical%20Therapists%20Do%20Physical%20therapists%20are%20movement,newborns%20to%20people%20at%20the%20end%20of%20life. Accessed March 14, 2022
Roman, Sara. “What Is Physical Therapy?” Samford University, 6 Oct. 2020, www.samford.edu/healthprofessions/news/2020/What-is-Physical-Therapy.