PHYSICAL THERAPISTS are members of a health team that work to restore a patient's physical activity following an accident or illness. Patients include those who have been impaired by birth defects. Therapists help patients overcome disabilities through therapeutic exercise, massage and applications of heat, cold, water, and light. Therapists also participate in case conferences and work under the direction of a physician.

Principal duties of Physical Therapists include:

• Reviewing and evaluating patients' conditions and medical records, performing tests or measurements, interpreting findings, and maintaining documentation.
• Developing programs for treatment plans in keeping with the doctor's directions.
• Helping patients attain maximum muscle strength and motor skills as well as accepting and adjusting to the limiting effects of their disabilities.
• Planning and executing exercises for increasing strength, endurance, coordination, and range of motion.
• Introducing stimuli to facilitate motor activity and learning.
• Instructing in the activities of daily living and use of assistive devices.
• Administering traction, massage, and other treatments such as moist packs, ultraviolet and infrared lamps, and ultrasound machines to improve patient's comfort and aid in recovery.
• Motivating and instructing patients, families, and other caregivers to help patients through the treatment and convalescent period.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of treatment with other team members with an eye towards fine-tuning therapeutic procedures and treatments.

Physical Therapists treat patients with a variety of needs, or may specialize in pediatrics, orthopedics, amputations, arthritis, or paralysis. They may administer physical therapy programs, teach, or work as consultants.

Other members of the team may include a physician, nurse, social worker, psychologist, occupational therapist, and vocational counselor.

Therapists must have good communication skills and analytical skills, a facility for working with people, as well as working as a member of a health care team. They must be self-starters who are motivated to succeed in an occupation where many clients take months or years to make progress. Therapists must have a sincere interest in people and their welfare. The job requires patience, tact, resourcefulness, and the emotional stability to help patients and their families understand treatments and adjust to handicaps.

Other skills, knowledge, and abilities Physical Therapists need include:

• Reading and Oral Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents and the ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Weighing the relative costs and benefits of a potential action.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Identification of Key Causes - Identifying the things that must be changed to achieve a goal.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Oral Expression and Speech Clarity - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand together with the ability to speak clearly so that it is understandable to a listener.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Medicine - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat injuries, diseases, and deformities.
• Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of information and techniques needed to rehabilitate physical and mental ailments and to provide career guidance including alternative treatments, rehabilitation equipment and its proper use, and methods to evaluate treatment effects.

Physical Therapists generally work in spacious, well-lighted and well-ventilated areas. They usually treat five to fifteen patients each day and may conduct group treatment sessions. The job can be physically exhausting. In addition to standing for long periods of time, Therapists must move equipment and help patients turn, stand, or walk. Although lifting of patients is required, Therapists are trained to lift so that coordination and stamina rather than physical strength are needed. The work of Physical Therapists can also be emotionally demanding and frustrating when little improvement in patients can be observed.

Physical Therapists provide their own uniforms with sleeve emblems identifying their medical specialty. A bathing suit is required if giving treatment in a pool.

According to a recent survey, the most common work setting for Physical Therapists was a private outpatient office or group practice. This was followed by hospital or clinic settings, acute care hospitals, or working in a client's home.

So far, there has been little or no unionization of Physical Therapists.

Employment is expected to increase at a rate faster than the average for all occupations.

The demand for these services should increase due to population growth and growth of the aging population, general widespread interest in health, the growth of sports medicine, and as more people exercise and require physical therapy for injuries.

New positions for Physical Therapists will be created as programs to aid disabled persons expand, and as nursing homes and other long-term care facilities provide residents with therapy and rehabilitation services. Increasing care for a growing aging population, whose numbers will rise sharply through the first half of this century, will create further demand for Physical Therapists. Also, many positions for Physical Therapists will result from scientific and technical advances in medicine, which will permit more disabling conditions to be treated.

The nationwide shortages of Physical Therapists in the early 1990s has abated somewhat, and competition now exists for job openings. Currently, the supply of applicants is roughly in balance with the demand for new workers. By 2005, there may be a national surplus of qualified applicants according to a study commissioned by the American Physical Therapy Association. Part of this surplus will be due to qualified Therapists moving to the United States.