Why I Want to Be a Physical Therapist

Brittany Ninham

PED 101

Career research paper

Due: April 29, 2015

Physical therapy is a job where I can use my heart by helping people become healthier, relieving some of their pain, and making people feel more confident about themselves. I want a job where I can joke around with my clients and not have to be extremely formal all the time. I would like to do this job for as long as possible. This is a job where I can see myself waking up every morning actually being happy to go to work. I am motivated to become a physical therapist because I want to enhance physical health, fitness, and quality of life in adults and children. A good physical therapist is just as important as a good doctor.

         The first school of physical therapy was established at Walter Reed Army Hospital, Washington, D.C., after the outbreak of World War I. 14 additional schools were established soon afterward. The first was at Teachers College, Columbia University (Becker 2004, 1). The largest was at Reed College in Eugene, Oregon. Before the end of the war, the schools and colleges had trained almost 2000 women, about 300 of whom served overseas. In its earliest days, physical therapy was an occupation consisting almost entirely of women acting in a supportive role to physicians. The American Physical Therapy Association defined physical therapists as educated trained assistants to the members of the established medical profession guided by policy to practice only under the prescription of a licensed physician. The subordinate role was clear from the start – one of the original objectives of the American Women’s Physical Therapeutic Association was to make efficiently trained women available to the medical profession ( Becker 2004,3). Physical therapists have evolved over the years from physician’s assistants to autonomous healthcare practitioners. Though still a female-dominant field – approximately 2/3 of the members of the APTA are women – physical therapists now often serve as the entry point in the healthcare system for evaluation, treatment, preventive programs and consultation.

         A Physical Therapist evaluates the patient's medical condition and how the injury occurred.  After testing the patient's problem, the Physical Therapist then provides them with the right treatment or treatment plan, which serves their injury.  Physical Therapists evaluate the patient's condition by measuring the patient's strength, posture, and balance (Bensley 2003, 1).  To test all of these objectives, they use ellipticals, arm bikes, pulleys, straps, and much more (Kelly 2009, 2).  They also use basic stretches for example, the leg raise, or even just the simple stretch of touching your toes.  Physical therapists try to prevent injuries by teaching the patient the proper way to do exercises, and also look for any future problems a patient might have (Bensley 2003, 3).    

To become a Physical therapist one is required to have a general background in biology, anatomy, mathematics, social science, chemistry, and physics (Bensley 2003, 7). Also, many Physical Therapists specialize in one specific division such as orthopedic, neurological, pediatric, cardiopulmonary, or sports science physical therapy so they need to keep that in mind while applying to their majors in college as well. (Bensley 2003, 6). "Physical Therapists in training" also have to have experience in an actual physical therapy clinic and have to graduate the Physical Therapy Master's Program (Resnik & Hart 2003, 2). After graduating the program, the government makes the graduate take a national exam in order to get a physical therapy license. There are 212 accredited physical therapist programs. Of those, 203 are doctorate programs and nine are masters. However, starting in the year 2016, The Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education will require all programs to offer the doctorate degree. A school that offers a department of Physical Therapy is the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (McLaurin 1984, 1). The University of Southern California also offers a program for physical therapy.  This school offers the #1 Physical Therapy program in the nation. The program DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) teaches students everything that they will need to know to become a physical therapist (Landel 2011, 1).  To go to this program at USC it costs roughly $53, 281 a year (Anonymous 2011c, 1).  Another school that offers Physical Therapy training is the University of Kansas.  The cost to go to this program for a resident is $13, 861.05 semiannually, and the cost for a non-resident is $24, 582.60 semiannually (Anonymous 2011b, 1).  

As with most jobs, an employee has to work his/her way up a pay line. The salary for a Physical Therapist ranges from $50,000-$104,000 a year. The lowest annual wage of physical therapist is $50,000.  On average a Physical Therapist makes $72,000. The highest annual wage of a physical therapist is around $104, 000, which is pretty good in the modern economy (Beuro.L.S 2010-11a, 13, 14, 15). These salaries differ as the clinic, city, population, or need is changed through-out an area.  

In the future, this job will be in high demand according to the fact that the elderly population is growing and the fact the "baby boomers," people that were born around the 60's and 70's, are now hitting the age of possible heart attacks, diabetes, and strokes causing a greater need for physical therapy in this age group. The demand for physical therapists is also growing in largely populated areas as more towns and cities become bigger and more advanced. (Beuro.L.S 2010-11a, 10, 11, 12).