Other Bloggers

Since I have been blogging about physical therapy for the past few months, I decided it was time to see what other physical therapy blogs exist on the world wide web. Upon doing this search, I found one physical therapy blog that particularly grabbed my attention. The blog I found is written by a physical therapist named Alison. She provides a lot of interesting information on her blog page about her job and what she does. She also throws in fun and intriguing exercise tips. For instance, she talks about how she started to use a heart rate monitor while she was exercising, and she found herself burning more calories without feeling incredibly exhausted (Alison Para. 4). I am going to continue to check up on her blog now so that I can continue to get her insight and ideas.

Alison's Blog:
http://physicaltherapyblog.wordpress.com/

Importance of PT

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, physical therapy plays an important role in many people’s lives. Physical therapy’s main goal is help a patient recover from an injury so that he can go back to living his normal life with no difficulties. “One Patient’s Story,” describes what physical therapy did for an older man. The article talks about a man in his early 60s had significant leg weakness and muscle spasms (Reeder Para. 2). He suffered from obesity and depression. His life at home was extremely difficult until he finally went to a physical therapy center. Jo Reeder, his physical therapist stated, “I customized a program for him that involved exercise and functional training. He was unable to keep his feet in the pedals of the exercise bike, so I adapted a bike by fixing shoes onto the pedals. Initially, he could not complete one revolution without assistance, but with warm-up exercises and stretching, he started to bike” (Reeder Para. 4). After a month of doing rigorous exercises, he was able to start walking again(Reeder Para. 6). Because of the exercises, he doesn’t have to use a wheel chair anymore. It was a life changing experience for him and his family. This article proves just how important physical therapy is. This man’s life was just one example of the millions of people’s lives that have been changed by physical therapy.

 Work Cited:

Reeder, Jo. "One Patient's Story." Life Options. Medical Education Institute Inc., Nov. 2001. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. <http://lifeoptions.org/stories/stories.php?story=r13>.

Job Outlook

I was interested to find out the median pay, education level, work experience requirements, and the job outlook for physical therapy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides all of this information on an organized chart. (Displayed below)

Physical Therapists
2010 Median Pay	$76,310 per year  $36.69 per hour
Entry-Level Education	Doctoral or professional degree
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
On-the-job Training	None
Number of Jobs, 2010	198,600
Job Outlook, 2010-2012	39% (Much faster than average)
Employment Change, 2010-2012	77,400

From this chart, I can see that the job outlook is very good right now. This means that it will not be too difficult to get a job after I graduate. Not only that, but the number of jobs is also relatively high. Learning these statistics makes me more and more excited for what my future holds.

Work Cited:
"Physical Therapists Summary." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. <http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Healthcare/Physical-therapists.htm>.

Job Shadowing

This past summer my mom encouraged me to think about what I wanted to major in, specifically what I wanted to do with my life. I felt completely overwhelmed. I really didn’t know where to start. As I child, I never had the dream of becoming a doctor or teacher like most other children. I decided to start looking into a few of the things I like to do. One of these things, ironically enough, was physical therapy. At the time, this worked out perfectly because my aunt is a physical therapist. My mom and I both thought it would be a great idea if I job-shadowed her for a day. When I did this, I got to see what the facility is like, what kind of patients she treats, and also the equipment she uses. Not only that, but I also got to see how she treats those patients and what she does on a day-to-day basis. This experience was way different than anything I have ever read. Nothing can compare to seeing exactly what a physical therapist does in person. I could always imagine what it might be like, but I really didn’t know what it was actually like until I experienced it.

Inspiration

In my health and nutrition class, we have been talking a lot about global malnutrition. We have learned about the mass amount of people that are affected daily by malnutrition. Every few seconds a person loses their life from being malnourished. Being the type of person that I am, I hate to see this types of things happen to individuals, so I decided to talk to my professor after class about what I can do to help. When I asked her about this, she asked me what my intended major was, and I told her I that I am planning to major in physical therapy. She informed me that there are many countries across the globe that are in constant need of physical therapists. She also explained that there are many ways that I can help with global issues that don’t necessarily deal with malnutrition. This conversation has really inspired me to start thinking about moving out of the country after I graduate to help the vast amount of people around the world who are struggling physically.

Controversy in Physical Therapy

According to Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for crippled children, parent involvement in physical therapy is a very controversial issue. The article explains that often times physical therapists prefer to treat a child without a parent being present because often times the parent can be a distraction (Herring 1).  This causes parents to become opinionated when the doctor tells them they would like to treat the patient without them being there. There was a study done to compare the effectiveness of physical therapy with a parent being present, and physical therapy without a parent being present. The results showed that physical therapists could accomplish the goal of therapy in a shorter time when the parent is not present (Herring 1). Parents always want to be involved with their child's life; thus, this situation will continue to be a controversial issue for many years.

Work Cited:
Herring, J. "Parent Involvement in Physical Therapy." National Institutes of Health. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 9 Jan. 2004. PubMed.gov. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2732325>.

Experience?

Recently I have been wondering about how I will be able to gain more experience in order to become a physical therapist. “Recent College Grads” explains that experience is key when getting a job in physical therapy (“Recent College Grads” 1). This experience may include job shadowing, internships, or working as a physical therapist assistant. It also explains how incredibly important it is to get experience because there are so many terms that are used in the field (“Recent College Grads” 1). This is very true because the more a person hears words repeated, the more he or she will remember them. I love coming across articles about my field because it always makes me wonder new things. For instance, is difficult it to find these opportunities? Do most people find them before they graduate? Or is it better to do them after you graduate?

Work Cited:

"Recent College Grads: How to Gain Experience in Physical Therapy." Centra Healthcare Solutions. Centra, 15 Jan. 2012. Web. 06 Oct. 2012. <http://www.centrahealthcare.com/recent-grads-gain-pt-experience>.