The person who assists and helps a physical therapist providing physical therapy to patients is a physical therapy assistant. Physical therapy assistants have to follow different instructions of the physical therapist and act accordingly. 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. The physical therapy assistant is in charge of collecting information related to the patient’s condition before, during and after the physical therapy treatment.
Physical therapy is one of the fastest growing and increasingly popular fields in the healthcare industry. Physical therapy employs the use of physical exercises to help the patients become stronger, be able to move their body parts freely and use devices and aids to help them in their daily functions.
Physical therapy patients who are disabled face problems in doing daily chores properly and could use some help and training in adapting to their condition and continuing their regular lives. A physical therapy assistant helps the senior therapist in the treatment by prepping the treatment area and managing clerical tasks to reduce the burden on the physical therapist.
Physical therapy assistants and aides have a lot of opportunities for employment across the world. Recent breakthroughs in science and medicine have increased the average age of people. As people grow older, treatments like physical therapy and consequently requirements for physical therapists and their aides will increase exponentially. This makes the field of physical therapy one with great growth potential and a stable career.
The physical therapist might use different treatments for different patients and depending on the treatment being used, the physical therapy assistant would be required to perform different tasks. 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 physical therapy assistant typically has to carefully follow instructions from the therapist 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 quite a few excellent physical therapy assistant courses which can help you begin your career as a physical therapy assistant.