If you want to have a big impact in someone's life and help them get better by providing rehabilitation and treatments, physical therapy is for you. This article will answer a lot of questions you may ask yourself, like what does a physical therapist do. Or the training and the education you'll need to do to get there. I'm writing this summary to help you understand what job a physical therapist does and tell you what the aspects or the environment of the job is.
Being a physical therapist is working actively with your patients in an office or in a clinic. You will spend a lot of your time on your feet helping and working with your patients. You will look at their medical record and diagnose them. You will develop a rehabilitation plan while looking at their progress. Adjusting their plan will be part of your job too. And of course, teach you patients and their family what to expect in this process.
Being a physical therapist, you will work with many patients that need your help to recover from an injury or a disability. Your work is to build a physical rehabilitation plan for your patients that increase their range of motion with flexibility and strength. Your goal to reduce their pain might be hard because self-determination is not always easy, and you will have to help them with it to contribute for their better quality of life.
On a typical day, a physical therapist will examine and diagnose their patients. They will then make a treatment plan either for a disability, an injury or other health problems. They will meet with their patients to do mobility and flexibility exercises in order to manage their pain and help them recover.
There are multiple places where a physical therapist can work. At the beginning, while you are still studying, you can start by being an assistant or by doing internships. After your studies, you may start working at a reasonable wage and average hours. You can work in hospitals, in clinics, in a nursing home, at a sport or fitness establishment, or even at some schools depending on your preference. Depending on where you work, it can be different because you will not have to manage the same type of situations by example in a sport event it will be a lot of injuries but in a hospital it might be more about health condition, disabilities or people who just had a surgery (post-surgery). Some physical therapists decide to open their own business later in life.
For starters, you will need to do a bachelor's degree in physical therapy. After your studies, you will have to do and pass a state license exam to be a member of this profession.
Depending on your degree of education, your experience and where you live, it can be different. Your workplace can be a factor too. If yo live in Quebec, and work in a hospital, your salary may start around $65 000 a year, but with years of experience, it can go to $100 000 a year. If you work in a sport facility in Quebec, you may start around $50 000 a year but as a senior, going upward as $75 000 a year. As you can see, it can change depending on where you live or where you work.
In Quebec, you must do a bachelor's degree in physical therapy (kinesiology). When you get your degree, you can become an accredited member of the federation as a physical therapist by doing an exam for the membership. After some time and some years of experience, if you want to specialize, it will require some additional training. For that, you will need to do an additional certification in university.
Being a physical therapist can be physically demanding. Standing, bending, using your strength is how you spend much of your time trying to help your patients. Beside that part, there's nothing really dangerous about this job.
Based on some articles, there could be between 35 and 50% chance that robots could replace physical therapists. The risks are low because as a physical therapist you use technical and human-centric skills. The score analyze the skills, the knowledge and the abilities that someone needs to practice the job, and it gives a percentage. Even though the results aren't perfect and precise, it can help you compare with other jobs, and how much at risk they are.
Physical therapy is one of the 50s profession with the lowest rate of workers still working over the age of 65. There are a lot of qualities that you will gain from your job and keep after retirement. A high-level communication, empathy, trust building with people and management are all skills that make you you after retirement.
Right now, I'm waiting to start my first semester in physical therapy at the Quebec University in Montreal. I just got accepted, and I'm really excited to start this new chapter. I want to do my best and start working and do internships as soon as possible to get a foot in the door. I hope this article helped you and made you more confidante about your future job and how to get there.
Rationale: to inform or educate
Authority: recognized author
Date: recently published
Accuracy: probably true
Relevance: relevant for this document
Sources: no sources cited
Rationale: to inform or educate
Authority: recognized author
Date: still relevant
Accuracy: probably true
Relevance: relevant for this document
Sources: no sources cited
Rationale: to inform or educate
Authority: research journal
Date: still relevant
Accuracy: probably true
Relevance: relevant for this document
Sources: no sources cited