Physical Therapy

My Research

Part 1: What I Need To Know

My research is all about Physical Therapy and why people choose it as their career. This will help me understand more about this career and why it is a good fit for me, and many others. I am hoping to understand the careers that coincide with Physical Therapy, as well as the importance of Physical Therapy. I choose to do my research on topics that interest me about the career, mainly things that I have never learned before. I hope to use what I learn to be the best at what I do, and to ensure that I am running along the right path.

Part 2: What I Know or Assume

I can assume that most physical therapist have an athletic background. This is one thing I find in common with most PT’s, athletic trainers, or PT Assistants. I also know that physical therapy is for injury recovery and prevention. The main goal is to get the patient better as quickly as possible, and back to doing what they live and love. I also know that their mainly found in Rehab Centers and Private offices, but I am curious to know where else they practice. This sums up the majority of the information I know for the time being.

Part 3: The Search

My research has been mainly through web searches. I have found Galileo to be very difficult when it comes to finding interesting topics. Interviewing my mentors and my curiosity on various things has also been a great help with my research. They help provide me with insight on the career field, as well as giving me hands on experience. All of the questions and answers are honest and educated, and if I do not know something, they are sure to inform me.

Part 4: What I Discovered

I have discovered a number of things throughout my mentorship. The first being one I discovered from my second annotated bibliography. That being the different places that Physical Therapists practice. I always thought that they just worked in private offices or rehabilitation centers. This intrigued me because it was an academic journal on the controversy of the training for PT’s in the ICU. It makes sense that they would be needed right after a serious injury or surgery, but I never made that connection.

Another thing that I learned from my mentorship itself is the different types of careers that are all practiced in the same office. At my mentorship there is an occupational therapist, two physical therapists, a physical therapist assistant (PTA), and an athletic trainer. All of these careers work together to accomplish the same goal, the betterment of the patients. Occupational Therapists are to help people get back to daily activities after a serious injury; athletic trainers work solely on athletes; physical therapist diagnose and treat any type of injury/ surgery; and PTA’s instruct with the advisement of the physical therapist.

Now onto what I concluded about why people choose to study in this field. The thing I found in common with most physical therapists is that they have an athletic background of sort. Both the physical therapists at my office played sports in high school, and this sparked their desire for the career. On the other hand the PTA at my office never played a sport growing up. I learned from her that she always loved sports; she just never got into them growing up. I have concluded that it is not necessarily the treatment and sporty atmosphere that draws people to becoming physical therapists, but the genuine care that each and every physical therapist expresses. This care is what keeps patients coming back, and what influences their love for the career. This is what happened to me, when I required physical therapy freshman year, my PT devoted her life to getting me better, and that is what sparked my desire for physical therapy and undoubtedly many others as well.