Physical Therapy

What is Physical Therapy?

“Physical therapy is care that aims to ease pain and help you function, move, and live better” (Brakeville, 2019).

The vision of the profession is to optimize movement by using the Movement System to improve human experience.  The Movement System is composed of anatomic structures and physiologic functions that work together to move the body.

What is a Physical Therapist?

Physical therapists are movement specialists who provide a unique perspective on purposeful, precise, and efficient movement across the lifespan.  By evaluating the movement system, a physical therapist can customize a plan of care to help an individual achieve their goals. (American Physical Therapy Association Staff, 2016)

Physical therapists help individuals recover from and prevent injury by prescribing exercise, hands-on care, and patient education. They are able to diagnose and treat individuals of all ages, injuries, disabilities in a wide range of settings that include hospitals, outpatient clinics, individual’s homes, schools, sports and fitness facilities, workplaces, and nursing homes.  They can achieve this either in-person or virtually through telemedicine.

What is the Path to Becoming a Physical Therapist in the United States?

In order to become a newly licensed Physical Therapist in the United States, you must:

• Pass the national licensing examination
• Pass a state licensing examination
• Earn a doctorate of physical therapy degrees from an accredited physical therapy education program approved by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education

Acceptance into a Physical Therapy Program: must earn a Bachelor’s degrees or 3 years of undergraduate course work in preprofessional courses

• Length of a Physical Therapy Program: typically, about 3 years
  • Consists of about 80% didactic and lab and 20% clinical education/mentored clinical practice
  • Primary curriculum content includes, but is not limited to:
    • Biology/anatomy
    • Cellular histology
    • Physiology
    • Exercise physiology
    • Biomechanics
    • Kinesiology
    • Neuroscience
    • Pharmacology
    • Pathology
    • Behavioral sciences
    • Communication
    • Ethics/values
    • Management sciences
    • Finance
    • Sociology
    • Clinical reasoning
    • Evidence-based practice
    • Cardiovascular and pulmonary systems
    • Endocrine and metabolic systems
    • Musculoskeletal systems

Helpful Links:

American Physical Therapy Association: https://www.apta.org/

World Physiotherapy: https://world.physio/

References

About Physical Therapists (PTs) and Physical Therapist Assistants (PTAs) (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2021, from https://www.movecalifornia.org/

American Physical Therapy Association Staff. (2016, May 1). The Movement System Brings It All Together. American Physical Therapy Association. https://www.apta.org/apta-magazine/2016/05/01/the-movement-system-brings-it-all-together

Brakeville, R. (2019, July 27). What is Physical Therapy? WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/what-is-physical-therapy

How can a physical therapist help me? (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2021, from https://www.movecalifornia.org/