Physical therapy is the treatment of physical disability, malfunction, or pain by exercise, massage, hydrotherapy (water therapy) etc. without the use of medicines, surgery, or the use of radiation. It is better than having to have more medical treatments. It is a easier way to get back to your old self. Though it takes time for your body to heal you can do physical therapy at home as well as when you see your therapist. You will see a greater improvement in your overall health when you start seeing a physical therapist because they can suggest things that you can continue to do after your sessions are over!
Physical therapists are now having to go through more intensive training and schooling as there are new technologies and there is a higher demand for physical therapists. Now you must get a doctorate degree in physical therapy as well as a four year bachelors degree. Physical therapy school is competive to get into. Once you complete schooling you will see that you will be able to find a job in physical therapy because there is a higher demand for them!
There are six common specializations in physical therapy. Pediatrics, Geriatrics, Orthopedics, Sports medicine, Neurology, and cardiopulmonary physical therapy to name some of the most common ones. You will see that your options are very wide. You can choose the setting you work in as well. You may also choose if you'd like to work in inpatient which is more of dealing with the problem as it has just occured and outpatient you will deal with a lot more of musculoskeletal problems which resul in pain. You need to remember that your options are yours and you can keep them as open as you would like.
A day in the life of a physical therapist would be interesting each day. You might start your day at eight or ten. You can have some kind of flexibility. Your day would consist of seeing patients every thirty minutes. What you do with each patient will vary. One patient migh need a evaluation so that the next time they come in you can get right to the problem and work on fixing it. When you do a evaluation you are checking for strength, joint mobilization, range of motion etc. On the next patient you might do a little manual therapy with the ultra sound. Then you could have lunch and afterwards you would go back to thirty minute patients and continue through your day. At the end of your day you would have to chart all of your work with every patient because you may not be the next one to see that patient. You may also not see them for a while and you can't remember everything you do. Then your day would be over!
