Snap! Your arm is broken. You go to the hospital, get the bone set, the doctor makes a cast and gives you some medicine and you’re on your way for the next couple of months. But what do you do when the cast comes off and you’ve lost strength and mobility? Your doctor can’t help you; it’s time for you to see a physical therapist. Physical therapists work with patients with all kinds of injuries and mobility problems and help them to restore full health.
If a career in physical therapy interests you, then get ready to go to school. Physical therapists are required to attend a four-year university to receive their bachelor’s degree, and then they must graduate from an accredited physical therapy school. Students can expect to study subjects such as chemistry, biology, anatomy, physics, and more specialized courses such as human growth and development. Below is a short list of the best physical therapy schools in the United States.
* University of Southern California
* University of Pittsburgh
* Washington University in St. Louis
* University of Delaware
* US Army-Baylor University
In addition to graduating with a master’s or doctoral degree, physical therapists are required to take and pass licensing exams to practice their medicine within a state. Each state has a different exam and requires different things, much like teacher licenses.
Once you’ve graduated, obtained your license and found a job, you’re on your way to making as much as $75,000 a year. So what exactly will you be doing? The following list describes several activities physical therapists regularly perform.
* Receive patients and their medical histories
* Examine the patient for factors such as strength, mobility, posture and muscle execution
* Perform for the patient how to increase these factors and allow the patient to accomplish the exercises
* Work with patients to develop realistic treatment plans