Benefits of being a Physical Therapist Assistant

Physical therapist assistants help ill or injured patients to improve their movement after a traumatic event, as well as manage their pain. These skilled assistants are often important in rehabilitation, prevention, and treatment of patients with chronic conditions, injuries, or illnesses.

Working in physical therapy provides a unique level of job satisfaction. The work may be physically demanding, but where else can you help patients recover from serious injuries and take back their independence? Whether it is neck or back injuries, neurological conditions, arthritis or just simply strains and pains, the rewards of helping a patient regain mobility are great.

Making a Difference as a Physical Therapist Assistant

Becoming a physical therapist assistant can be very rewarding. You could tend to patients one-on-one, see them improve through treatment, and watch firsthand as their body and lives improve. Whether the patient's issue is a result of disease or injury, as a physical therapist assistant your role is to help in rehabilitation by fostering patient’s return to maximum function. You may work with other specialists to prevent loss of mobility by developing fitness as well as wellness-oriented programs for healthier and active lifestyles.

Becoming a Movement Expert as a Physical Therapist Assistant

Physical therapist assistants are highly educated and are experts in the function and movement of the human body. Your goal as a physical therapist assistant is to increase the patient’s ability to reduce pain, prevent disability, and restore function through better movement. Physical therapy is an essential element in patient care.

Functioning training as well as therapeutic exercise are the cornerstones of physical therapy treatment. Contingent on the specific needs of your patient, you may mobilize a joint or massage a muscle to ensure proper function and movement. You may opt to employ other techniques like electrotherapy, hot packs, or ultrasound-high frequencies that produce heat, along with other treatments when appropriate.

You Could Work in a Variety of Locations as a Physical Therapist Assistant

Working as a physical therapist assistant could enable you to work with patients all over the country. Depending on your needs and opportunities you could select from an extensive variety of locations as well as work settings. There might include private practices, hospitals, outpatient clinics, schools, and home health agencies.

Be an Entrepreneur and a Physical Therapist Assistant

Do you want to be your own boss? More than 21% of physical therapy assistants are partners or owners in a physical therapist practice. In today’s modern health care sector, efficient physical therapy is an important piece of the overall wellness puzzle. 

The Emotional Benefits of Physical Therapist Assisting

Being a physical therapist assistant can be a very emotional job. You’re not working with machines, after all. You’re working with people who are often coming to you after experiencing the trauma of an injury or illness. Working in this field will consist of the highs of helping people recover and go back to their normal lives. But also the lows of patients who have been recently injured, disabled, or are otherwise unable to fully recover.

It’s important to know although you can’t "fix" everyone who comes to you at work, you can still help. Physical therapy can reduce pain and stiffness in old joints or injured body parts. Each case - and each patient - will be unique and have its own special set of circumstances. 

Physical therapist assistance can be an exciting and rewarding position in the health science field. If you think you have want it takes to join this exciting field, consider ECPI University’s Associate of Applied Science degree in Physical Therapist Assisting. With accelerated classes and a year-round schedule, you could finish your degree in as little as 15 months. Contact an ECPI University admissions advisor to discuss your future.

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

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