What Are the Tasks of a Physical Therapist?

A Physical Therapist will serve their patients in helping them to relieve pain, improve their mobility, and help to prevent any permanent physical damage that may cause disability.

Patients of a Physical Therapy may include people who suffer from severe back pain, shoulder pain, fractures, heart disease, arthritis, and head injuries, to name a few. Sometimes, the work of a physical therapist can be physically demanding as they may have to help move patients and help them make certain body movements during therapy. Besides helping move their patients, in Physical Therapy a therapist may also have to move around heavy equipment sometimes.

Physical Therapy have access to their patients medical histories and will examine them so that they can test their patients strength and muscle performance, range of motion, balance, posture and so on. For instance, if a patient has a rotary cuff injury, they will have a hard time raising their arm straight up. The physical Therapy will continually test that patient to see if improvements are made as treatment goes on. Their goal here is to get their patient to raise their arm without pain and to reach that point, the Physical Therapy will have to develop a strategy and a plan to get the healthy outcome that he/she and the patient desire.

To treat patients, the Physical Therapist may have their patients do exercises for them, especially for those who may have problems with certain body movements that most healthy people usually take for granted. The Physical Therapist will try as hard as they can to get their patient to get all normal range of motions back and increase flexibility as much as possible. The patients will need these normal range of motions to get by in everyday life whether at home or at their job, the Physical Therapy has a goal to see that it is achieved.

Aid products that you may see a Physical Therapist use are things such as hot packs or cold compresses. These are used to help relieve pain that a person may be experiencing. Other gadgets that a Physical Therapist use are electrical stimulation and ultrasounds, whatever it takes to relieve the pain from their patients and make them feel better. Massages are done my Physical Therapist to ease pain, massages also help to improve circulation of the patients.

Physical Therapy jobs include teaching your patients how to keep healthy and strong when they go home to fully exert their recovery, exercising may be part of the plan. They may teach the patient how to use crutches, wheelchairs, and other things.

Physical Therapy jobs include lots of follow up with their patients. When a patient is sent home they will have to visit their Physical Therapist from time to time so that progress can be examined. When necessary, modification of treatment will be ordered. For this reason, physical therapy work closely with physicians, social workers, speech language pathologist, occupational therapist, educators, nurses, as well as other professionals to help patients recover.

The Best Job in America? - Physical Therapy

Do you know why physical therapy is regarded as one of the best jobs in America? Are you wondering what career path to take? Do you want to change from your dead end job to a career in one of the fastest growing industries in America? Do you want to work in a profession that allows you to have a life outside of your work?

If you do, consider a career change to physical therapy. It is a challenging and rewarding career and as you'll see, is considered one of the best jobs in America. Here's why.

Job security is a major factor in determining Americas' best job. Even in the recent global financial crisis, the health care sector has performed as one of the strongest growing industries in America, in particular physical therapy. The ageing population in conjunction with obesity is placing greater demand on the health care system and therefore on physical therapists. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimate a 39% increase in physical therapy workforce in the next 10 years. That's a further 75000 jobs. This is a reason why US News rated it as the 4th best Health care job in America.

A high paying salary is another reason physical therapy is high on Americas' best jobs list. In 2010, The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the average yearly wage for a physical therapist was approximately $76,000. You can expect to be paid more than $105000 in a managerial position and around $54000 in your first year after you graduate from university. The beauty is that the more experience you have the better you get paid so the prospects of development and progression are phenomenal.

The third and arguably the most important factor making physical therapy one of the best jobs in America is a positive work-life balance and job satisfaction. Full time employees generally work a standard 40 hour week but this is very flexible as you get the choice of whether you want to work on weekends, evenings, half days, part time or overtime. Also, because a career in physical therapy is so versatile, more and more therapists are opting to work two part time jobs in different areas which makes for a less monotonous workload and better job satisfaction. According to Workforce Developments 78% of physical therapists are satisfied with their jobs compared to the national average of just 47%.

So there you have it, great job prospects and career growth, a lucrative salary and a flexible work life balance make physical therapy a great career choice. It's no wonder it's rated one of the best jobs in America. Don't hesitate if you want to begin a career in physical therapy.