The person who assists and helps a physical therapist providing physical therapy to patients is a physical therapy assistant. Physical therapy assistants typically follow the orders of the senior therapist while treating patients. They help the physical therapist in treating health conditions like fractures and sprains, neck and back injuries, arthritis, amputations, burns, stroke, sport related injuries, birth defects, multiple sclerosis and other conditions. It is the physical therapy assistant’s job to collect all the pertinent information about the patient’s status during the course of the treatment and provide this information to the physical therapist.
Physical therapy is one of the fastest growing and increasingly popular fields in the healthcare industry. Physical therapy involves the usage of physical movements and exercises to increase body strength, freedom and range of motion, utility of the body and patient training in the use of mobility aids and devices.
Patients with physical disabilities who can’t perform day to day actions with the freedom of non disabled people need help in the form of physical therapy to help them get better. As the physical therapist starts and continues treatment of these patients, the help of a physical therapy assistant is required to help set the treatment area up and assist in the treatment and in clerical tasks.
Physical therapy assistants and aides have a lot of opportunities for employment across the world. The advances in medicine and science have resulted in longer life spans for a large percentage of the population. As people get older, they will increasingly require help and support from healthcare professionals like physical therapy assistants. The changing demographics and lifestyles mean that the demand for physical therapy assistants is only likely to grow with time.
Depending on the exact physical therapy treatment being used, the senior therapist might need the physical therapy assistant to do a number of tasks to help with the treatment. For example, the therapist might require the assistant to help the patient with physical exercises, hydrotherapy or muscle manipulation which help the patients resume normal movement.
The senior therapist guides the physical therapy assistant along the best course of action to be taken while helping the patient. Physical therapy assistants commonly perform clerical tasks in the office like filling up paperwork for patients, taking calls on behalf of the physical therapist and setting up appointments. This requires the physical therapy assistant to be skilled in a number of tasks apart from the therapy ones.
There are quite a few excellent physical therapy assistant courses which can help you begin your career as a physical therapy assistant.
