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. Among other things, physical therapy assistants help the senior therapist to treat patients for conditions including injuries of neck and back, sprains or fractures, multiple sclerosis, sports injuries, amputations, arthritis, birth defects, stroke 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 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.
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. 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 get older, they will increasingly require help and support from healthcare professionals like physical therapy assistants. This makes the field of physical therapy one with great growth potential and a stable career.
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. Apart from the therapy work, physical therapy assistants routinely complete clerical tasks in the office like completing paperwork for the therapist and patients, receiving phone calls and scheduling appointments. The variety in tasks means that physical therapy assistants must be good at a number of tasks other than the ones directly related to therapy.
There are quite a few excellent physical therapy assistant courses which can help you begin your career as a physical therapy assistant.