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What do therapists do?

I have a family member who introduced #physical-therapist #physical-therapy #therapists me and made me interested in being a therapist but I want to know what exactly do therapists do because he was talking about a very specific kind of therapist and I got confused?

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Deanne’s Answer

Yes, there are many types of therapists. Physical therapists help people of many ages and predicaments, as Susie mentions in her response, with their movement. PT's look at their patient from the angle of: what can't they do physically, and how I can I help them do that again? The best thing about PT is there are so many different settings to specialize in, and you can work in different areas over the course of your career. Just as an example, I work in outpatient (living in the community) orthopedics (musculoskeletal system.) I will see (non surgical) patients this week who have pain and/or difficulty with things that you may take for granted, like bending down to pick up things from the floor, turning their head to check their blind spot while driving, and also just sitting for a meaningful amount of time to get some work done on the computer. To help them, I ask a lot of questions, and watch them perform certain movements and finally examine the particular area in question with passive movement to determine which joint(s) or muscle(s) are contributing the most to the problem. Then, I share my thoughts and treatment plan with the patient and we get to work as long as they are in agreement. The patient gets homework, usually in the form of exercise, and will return to the clinic approximately 1-2 times per week until their problem is much improved, generally 4-6 weeks. I agree with Susie that it's a very fun career, if you like people and enjoy thinking critically and solving problems.
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Susie’s Answer

Great question, Christian. As a PT, you could work in a wide variety of settings and with people of all ages, from newborns through geriatric (elderly) populations. You will train as a generalist in DPT school, although some graduate programs offer options to do some extra specialization work prior to graduation, like offering a few extra classes or shadowing in the pediatric field. After you graduate from a DPT program, you will also take extra courses each year, and can specialize in a sub-field of PT, such as orthopedics, pediatrics, neurology, or geriatrics, to name a few. As a pediatric PT, I have worked in many settings including schools, outpatient clinics, camps, pools, neonatal intensive care units, and more, so there is a lot of flexibility and opportunity to move around and travel within the USA, or even abroad. Good luck with your career choice. It is a lot of work, but a lot of fun, too.
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