Personal Narrative: Pursuing A Career In Physical Therapy

The career I became interested in is a Physician’s Assistant, or a few people call them PAs. I became interested in this job in my sophomore year of high school. It all started when I attended the STEM fair after school one day. STEM fair is only offered to students who are in either the biomedical Stem academy or the engineer academy. At this fair, students tour around to different classrooms to acquire information on different careers. I attended the Physician’s Assistant one, where there was an actual PA to give information on what PAs achieve. For example, PAs examine patients for diseases, injuries and illnesses.

Growing up I always knew I wanted something more than just a “job”. I wanted a career that would be rewarding and encompass a combination of my talents and interests. As a child, I dreamed of being a doctor, mechanical engineer, nurse, dental hygienist, and teacher. It was not until my freshman year of college that I took a good look at career choices. After hearing about occupational therapy, I did a great deal of research to find out what it was, what the therapists did, who they worked with, and the influence they had on the lives of others. As I continued through my college experience, occupational therapy always remained at the top of my list of possible careers. I began to see that it was a perfect combination of all the things I wanted to be when I grew up. I could work as a healthcare professional, help people in need, problem solve, and bring light and hope into people’s lives. Observing several different occupational therapists has confirmed that this is the career for me.

When I first attended Lindenwood University and I had no idea on where I wanted to go with my life. All I knew is that I would not be stuck behind a desk for eight hours a day and that I wanted to work with people. For a while I thought I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be an influencing part in someone’s life, but it didn’t take me long to realize that teaching was not what I was being called to do. I had a very strong passion to help people, so I started working towards a degree in Exercise Science with the idea that I could do something with the rising obesity issues, but it still didn’t feel right. I started meeting with my advisor, Heather Pennington, who helped me start looking around for different options. She strongly encouraged me to try out different facilities, including several Occupational Therapy environments. I didn’t have a particular “aha” moment where I decided that Occupational Therapy was right for me, but the various experiences showed me what my potential future career path could be.

Becoming a Doctor of Physical Therapy has been my educational and life goal from the time I was freshman year of high school. When I was 15 years of age, my life changed forever. After three months of physical therapy for a weak hip, my physical therapist told me that I was not where I should be, and that something was wrong. A specialist subsequently diagnosed me with hip dysplasia as well as a labral tear. Fixing those two issues would entail a multi-hour surgery with 18 months of recovering. At that time in my life I was a four sport athlete and involved in countless other activities at school. I was the kid who would say how high when someone would say jump. Therefore 18 months of rehabilitation would put in a dent in my normal flow of

Jim Penn is a Physical Therapy Assistant at Medina Regional Hospital in Hondo Texas. My interview with him was extremely helpful in getting information on Assistant Physical Therapists. Prior to this interview I was interested in becoming either a Physical Therapist or an Assistant Physical therapist, however I did not have a lot of knowledge regarding the Assistant position. Jim Penn helped explain the career field and gave a lot of insight to what I should expect regarding schooling and the day to day in the field. I will hopefully be spending a few days this summer shadowing him and the Pediatric Physical Therapist on Staff at Medina Regional.

Occupational therapy is a form of therapy for people who are recuperating from physical or mental illness that encourages rehabilitation through the performance of activities that are required for daily life (World Federation of Occupational Therapists). Being an occupational therapist has many different kinds of duties. They review patients’ medical history, ask the patients’ questions, and observe them doing tasks, evaluate a patient’s condition and needs. After evaluating patients, develop treatment plans and help demonstrate exercises. In order to do all of these duties, a person must pass the national examination administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy. Therapists must pass the board in order to have

My mother is a physical therapist who practices in a hospital, a setting I am familiar with, but I have also witnessed physical therapists in private practice, skilled facilities, and home care. I discovered that physical therapy is an open-ended profession and there is so much that can be done in the field. Being able to see physical therapy applied to different age groups with different needs in different communities has proven to be an invaluable experience. I knew that the career possibilities were

As I pulled into the rehabilitation center’s parking lot Monday afternoon I couldn't wait to get inside and feel the breeze of the air conditioning as I escaped from the 95 degree blazing hot weather outside. I was very anxious because I wasn’t sure how this interview would go, let alone if it would happen. I wasn't certain the physical therapist I was going to interview would have time to fit me in. I was up the night before trying to figure out what I wanted to learn from this interview and what kind of questions I would ask. I decided to focus my questions towards the physical therapist I have been shadowing to get to know more about him and his experiences with the job. So far through out my research I have been focusing on the physical therapists and their relationships with patients. I wanted my readers learn more about the person who is caring for these patients and what goes on that patients do not see.

To understand how I will embody the American Physical Therapy Association's vision as a future physical therapist, it's important to begin from my past, where it all came from. My adoration of the human body began during the first few years of high school. It was around this time that I had been working and working; finally I had saved up enough money to buy my first car back in the summer of 2009. Everyone loved his or her first car, and I was no exception. Like a typical first car, it had malfunctions here and there which I would research and repair on my own, learning along the way. Well, it was around that time that I was taking my first anatomy class, and I thought to myself, "Wow, how similar an automobile and the human body are. Two robust, powerful machines that can be repaired with some research and experience, together with a bit of learning along the way." Little did I know how much more intricate, detailed, and marvellous the human anatomy was; I wanted to fix everyone.

I hope the new year is treating you well! This year I am a sophomore at the University of Evansville. I am pursuing a degree in exercise science and hope to one day become a physical therapist. My dream job would be to work in an outpatient physical therapy office. The time I have spent at the University of Evansville has been something I will look back on fondly for the rest of my life. I am involved in numerous campus organizations, such as the exercise science club, physical therapy club, national society of leadership and success, and hall council. My favorite organization is Hall Council, because it has introduced me to some great people that I am proud to be able to call my friends. I also have the privilege to be the vice president for

I chose a physical therapist (PT) because it always interested me from the time I was little because my dad had to go through and I went with him sometimes. I've always wanted to help people get better and better themselves and this is how I can do it. I recently just graduated from physical therapy, and I thought it was so cool to ask questions about a potential career that I could have one day. I got a hands on experience and had to do all different kinds of stretches and exercises. I actually really liked it because it was helping me make my muscles better and stronger.

Looking back to the kickoff of my freshman year made me feel frangible. At this point, I had been a little more than halfway through my freshman and everything had transmuted once again. This time in a good way. I had just gotten out of my nerves cast about a month ago. It had been a fortnight since getting out of my cast for my broken ankle and but now I had just been able to commence utilizing my ambulating boot. The visual perception of my leg after being in a cast for 4 and half months Frightening. An aberrantly minuscule leg, can it even work where my poetic conceptions. My peregrination commenced at that moment. Two months until the commencement of club soccer season. For about a month my job in the school was to study and steadily start ambulating around the school.

"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something” (Steve Jobs). I remained undecided with which career I wanted to pursue for a period of time and thinking about this quote I knew I didn’t want to wake up every morning and dread the day ahead of me. I knew I wanted to remain in the activity of color guard but also wanted to help people with their personal goals. I had always had self-image issues growing up, and when I decided to change my life style and get in shape I knew I wanted to help people gain their self-confidence. I discovered that exercise science is a field that allows me to stay in the color guard world and help people, there are several fields that would allow me to do both, personal training, physical

In the past, I have explored becoming a physical therapist, via shadowing, or pursuing a career in medical research. I decided not to pursue physical therapy because I became more interested in parts of medicine that are not the focus of physical therapy (specifically diseases of the cardiopulmonary system). Additionally, I also became interested in surgery and this is not a component of physical therapy. The reason I decided against a career strictly focused on medical research is because part of my passion for medicine is for interacting directly with patients. I am committed to working with patients and their families and diagnosing and treating individual patients and that is not something I would be able to do during medical

Helping others is a value my mother and father have always aspired to instill in me. As a young child, I often found myself assisting my grandmother, who was a nurse at the time, in taking care of our sick family members, one of which was my grandfather. My grandfather, Jim Wren, was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was in the fifth grade. It was heartbreaking for me, and I felt as if my entire world was falling to pieces. When I was younger, I would ride the school bus to his house every day after school. While my grandmother was at work, my grandfather and I would often find ourselves fishing in the lake behind his house or walking outside on trails he had once cut. While my grandfather and I were outdoors, I would often observe how he felt. It was amazing to see the extreme improvement in his health and even his mind set by simply going outside and getting a little exercise. From that day forward, I have always longed to see the