The Physical Therapist job description starts with being a health care provider first and foremost. As a Physical Therapist the primary focus is on relieving the patient’s pain as prescribed by the doctor. The Physical Therapist and patient work as a team to restore the patient’s function, mobility, relieve pain and prevent or limit permanent physical disabilities. Physical Therapists will communicate with doctors on the patient’s progress or lack of progress and make adjustments. Physical therapists will shorten a patient’s recovery period by providing the correct physical therapy treatment allowing patients to get back to their normal life as quick as possible.
Every patient is different. Patients will have lots of questions that will …show more content…
Being able to listen, observe and understand what is critical and what is not for the patient is important for the success of the patient’s therapy and as a physical therapist. Physical therapists will create plans that involve stretching, strength training, exercises and physical manipulation to help patients recover. They have to understand that each patient will be different and handle pain differently; and as we all know therapy is painful. Physical Therapists will need to have a wide variety of skills that they will use and build on, such as compassion, dexterity, interpersonal skills, attention to detail, and physical stamina/strength and be resourceful. Compassion will be used to help them ease the patient’s pain, without putting them at risk of further injury. Dexterity will help the physical therapist use their hands, legs and parts of their body to apply pressure to or move a patient's body for the proper …show more content…
Hippocrates had recommended massage therapy for stress release and for physical healing. In America, physical therapy techniques were introduced during World War 1 for injured soldiers that were returning home. This resulted in the first American physical therapy school opening in 1914 in the city of Washington, DC. Amazingly up until World War II, physical therapists were only allowed to practice within a hospital environment. They would assist patients recovering from injuries, surgeries or other ailments, resulting in the patient’s hospital time decreasing from several weeks to a few days. Physical therapy clinics began to emerge, providing treatment for patients who were released from the hospital, but still required rehabilitation. In the late 1960s, outpatient physical therapy became covered under basic medical coverage for many insurance providers and government programs, From 1970s thru 1980s, physical therapy as a profession dealt with increasing diversification, such as orthopedic physical therapy and cardiopulmonary physical therapy. Throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium, physical therapy has been challenged due to the changing health care insurance practices and the increase in government health care