Physical Therapy as a Profession
They say that medicine adds years to your life, and it is a fact. But what kind of life will that be if you are in constant pain and incapacitated by disability or disease? That is where physical therapy comes in. Physical therapy will add years to your life as it is a science and art of treating and helping patients attain their maximum capacity through habilitation and/or rehabilitation of individual from their physical incapacities and limitations.
Physical therapy dates back from the ancient days of Hippocrates who started it in 460 BC. He was eventually followed by Galenus, and it has been an evolving practice since then. Treatment in the early days does not involve machine or modalities and so it was done manually. Later on, with the continuing development of medicine such as in the field of orthopedics, modalities like exercise machine (e.g. Gymnasticon, which resembles a stationary bicycle, invented in 1796, for treatment of joints) were introduced.
Today, physical therapy has been established as an allied medicine. For an individual to practice this professionally, one should complete a physical therapy course in schools with quality education in order to get a physical therapy jobs. According to reports, different countries provide different technique in physical therapy education. This report is announced by the world council of physical therapy. There is variety in the quality of education provided to the students for this profession, but it is only through hard work and dedication that a student can completely learn what is required to eventually effectively practice all aspects of therapy. After completion of the course, one could attain a license to be fully recognized as a professional, after which, he or she can practice their career in a hospital or any health care centers.
As a profession, physical therapy is not only limited to the improvement of the physical aspect of a patient. It also requires a certain amount of sympathy and enthusiasm as this is a service to mankind. They help people to be physically, mentally and emotionally equipped to bring their dignity and social status back, and to help them regain their full independence. Therefore, it is not an easy profession. Although majority of people still thinks that physical therapy is restricted to people with arthritis and stroke, a physical therapist can and also handles cases in areas of cardiopulmonary, orthopedic, geriatrics, pediatric, and neurologic. All these are different branch of medicine in which a therapist is specialized and capable of providing treatment with.
Physical therapy dates back from the ancient days of Hippocrates who started it in 460 BC. He was eventually followed by Galenus, and it has been an evolving practice since then. Treatment in the early days does not involve machine or modalities and so it was done manually. Later on, with the continuing development of medicine such as in the field of orthopedics, modalities like exercise machine (e.g. Gymnasticon, which resembles a stationary bicycle, invented in 1796, for treatment of joints) were introduced.
Today, physical therapy has been established as an allied medicine. For an individual to practice this professionally, one should complete a physical therapy course in schools with quality education in order to get a physical therapy jobs. According to reports, different countries provide different technique in physical therapy education. This report is announced by the world council of physical therapy. There is variety in the quality of education provided to the students for this profession, but it is only through hard work and dedication that a student can completely learn what is required to eventually effectively practice all aspects of therapy. After completion of the course, one could attain a license to be fully recognized as a professional, after which, he or she can practice their career in a hospital or any health care centers.
As a profession, physical therapy is not only limited to the improvement of the physical aspect of a patient. It also requires a certain amount of sympathy and enthusiasm as this is a service to mankind. They help people to be physically, mentally and emotionally equipped to bring their dignity and social status back, and to help them regain their full independence. Therefore, it is not an easy profession. Although majority of people still thinks that physical therapy is restricted to people with arthritis and stroke, a physical therapist can and also handles cases in areas of cardiopulmonary, orthopedic, geriatrics, pediatric, and neurologic. All these are different branch of medicine in which a therapist is specialized and capable of providing treatment with.
