Informative Essay: The Benefits Of Physical Therapy

As a physical therapist, one is able to make a difference in the lives of the patients he or she encounters. Whether they have a minor injury, such as a broken

Physical Therapy is an active, helpful career. It focuses on rehabilitation to reestablish full function and mobility to the patient. Anyone and everyone can qualify for physical therapy. Patients differ in age and race, and of course, by their illness or injury. The job involves possessing and using knowledge to diagnose the patient and establish a management plan deciding what therapy will benefit and improve the patient’s condition and averaging how long it will take to accomplish.

The standard scope of practice of a Doctor of Physical Therapy consists of providing exercises and services that “prevent, minimize, or eliminate impairments of body functions and structures, activity limitations, and participation restrictions” as well as creating goals that will guide my patient to better mobility (The Physical Therapy, 2015). Physical therapy is a dynamic form of health care that focuses on rehabilitation, risk-prevention exercises, and performance

A physical therapist assistant plays a very important role by providing treatments to patients, under the direction and supervision of a physical therapist. They use physical therapy treatment procedures to help improve the mobility and relieve pain and disability caused by disease or injury. Some examples of the patients that call for a physical therapist to assist them include accident victims and persons with disabling conditions, such as, lower back pain, arthritis, heart disease, fractures, head injuries, spinal cord injuries, and cerebral palsy.

In the words of Field (2007), "physical therapists develop therapies and exercise modalities to help patients ease pain, recover from injuries or illness, or regain use of body parts." The relevance of physical therapy as a health care profession cannot hence be overstated. This is more so the case given that due to injuries, accidents, old age or disabilities; individuals could at some point need intervention designed to alleviate pain, improve mobility or even restore function.

Physical therapy takes a more direct pathway towards a more specific problem with the human body. Physical therapy is a rehabilitation that works towards a goal of helping patients maintain, improve, or recover their physical abilities, most often times after an accident causing traumatic injury or arthritis (Mayo School of Health Sciences). Patients of a physical therapist often come in solely for the purpose of regaining their movement, not the health aspect involved behind it. Most patients of this therapist have suffered sports injuries, traumatic accidents, over even simply a problem of weakening with age such as those who suffer arthritis or other weakening of the joints and muscles. With step by step sessions focusing purely on strengthening the muscles and joints required to perform the movement functions, the patients rebuild their way from movement with pain, to no pain or suffering involved in everyday activities. When a patient begins therapy, they more or less begin with baby steps such as stretches and hydrotherapy to allow the body to relearn the movements without pain (What is Physical Therapy?). As the patient increases in strength

If I am accepted into the University of Texas at El Paso Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, I plan to use my past experience and training from the program to oblige under privileged areas and communities. Moreover, I began to prepare for the mission of providing culturally skillful and dialectal experienced care through my experience shadowing and volunteering under Sandra Terrazas, where I have been in contact with patients of different ethnic backgrounds. By sitting in on patient evaluations and therapy sessions of primarily Spanish speaking patients, I am taking steps to learn Spanish in order to better serve the patients in my community and beyond. Likewise, I have been volunteering at a clinic where I can observe different diagnoses and populations such as geriatric patients, breast cancer survivor therapy, incontinence patients and sports injuries.

Imagine that you have torn your ACL, or your anterior crucial element ligament. An athletic trainer will help you until a doctor can be seen for X-rays. A surgeon will repair the injury. An anesthesiologist will keep you pain free throughout a procedure. After this, somebody is needed to assist in improving movement. That is what a physical therapist is for. Physical therapists, or PTs, are a crucial part of rehabilitation, treatment and prevention for patients with physical ailments. Individualized programs are developed by PTs that may follow a doctor’s referral, as well as a patient’s concerns and physical evaluation. Treatment plans can be made for individuals with sprained ankles to arthritis to neurological disorders. Physical therapy varies from patient to patient, as no two injuries are exactly the same, but the goal is always the same: a completely recovered patient.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statics, in 2008, there were about 185,000 practicing Physical Therapists. It is predicted that in year 2018, there will be 241,700 practicing Physical Therapists (Bureau…). A physical therapist is a healthcare professional that can diagnose and treat a person. Physical therapists work with people of all ages that have a problem or disease that limits their ability to perform daily tasks. To become a physical therapist, you need either a Masters of Physical Therapy or a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. 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

A person might go to a physical therapist for multiple reasons. Anyone of any age group could go to physical therapy, from a child to a senior. While older people often go when they age to help with things like weakness and muscle loss, a younger person might go because of an orthopedic injury. Then there are patients with more tragic stories, like perhaps they were involved in a car accident. At a physical therapy session, you could find anyone from someone with an amputated limb to someone recovering from a surgery, and each patient has their own story to tell. Depending on their condition, the treatment they would receive in a physical therapy session would differ.

Life can change in a split second when an unanticipated injury or disease hinders someone’s normal daily life. Modern medicine, physicians and families can only do so much but physical therapy can help recoup the life many of us take for granted. It often isn’t until we lose something that we as humans realize what we had such as the value of our body’s ability to take us through each day. A physical therapist is the person who stays with a patient for the duration of the rehabilitation process. A physical therapist leads the patient through the process of regaining physical strength and helps the patient regain control of their future. Much like many careers that involve interaction with individuals, physical therapy reaches beyond

Physical therapists are members of a health care team, specially trained to improve movement and flinction, relieve pain, and expand movement potential. Through evaluation and individualized treatment programs, physical therapists can both treat existing problems and provide preventive health care for people with a variety of needs (Physical Therapy-Improving 1). Physical therapists are very knowledgeable and skillful concerning the human body. Physical therapy is a complex, but rewarding field to pursue as a career. Specialization, working conditions, job outlook, salaries, and education requirements need to be taken into consideration when contemplating a career as a physical therapist.

A degree in human biology qualifies a person for a variety of jobs. This degree provides a foundation to pursue veterinary, dental, or medical school paths, in addition to positions in research and development, laboratory testing, instruction, production, and quality control. Human biology provides a broad base from which to draw upon. The occupation that interests me the most is physical therapy. Physical therapy interested me ever since I began getting involved in gyms. My first encounter with a trainer at a gym was when I got trained for an hour for a baseball camp to help protect your rotator cuff, that was the moment I realized I wouldn’t mind having a job similar to what the trainer had. I wanted a job where I could help people

America’s culture is constantly changing— what we eat, how we live, and even how we interact with one another. We have the tools to become exceedingly interpersonally competent, and we have used them to our advantage. But one aspect of our interpersonal communication is widely accepted: social interaction is essential to being healthy, both physically, mentally and emotionally. We all need a support system, a friend, someone/something to confide in. Yet research shows that “sociodemographic changes in American society indicate a disturbing trend toward increased social isolation” (Hawkley & Cacioppo). Why is this? We know we need strong social ties to remain content, and this seems

Physical therapy is the scientific physical procedures used in the treatment of patients with a disability, disease, or injury to achieve and maintain function and to prevent malfunction or deformity. One of the most important tasks that physical therapists perform is the various forms of therapeutic exercise that are used to increase strength and endurance to improve coordination and functional movement for activities of daily living and to increase and maintain range of motion (APTA History).