Kenneth Flores

Mr. Maslonka
English 101 Section 18
16 March 2015
Physical Therapy
Physical Therapy is a rewarding and successful field to get into. It continues to grow in
size and improvement in treatment that patients receive. It is also estimated to drastically grow in
demand and currently being considered one of the most rewarding careers to get into in the near
future. Physical Therapy works closely with a number of different types of patients, anywhere
between professional athletes to cancer patients. Physical Therapist work to re-strengthen anyone
who has been injured or in many cases diagnosed with cancer. Its main goal is to get all the
muscles that were weakened by any situation, as close to its original strength as possible. a good
outlook, better understanding of some of its function, and studies such as Movement Ability
Measurement will surely give you better inside on this career.

Movement Ability Measurement (MAM) is intended to document patients changes in

their abilities following their rehabilitation program. Touching on a few of the research projects
which are measured by MAM such as, movement changes with balanced-based torso weighting
in multiple sclerosis, mind the gap, and sex difference in musculoskeletal condition across the
lifespan. This examines kinematic and kinetic variables collected during gait standing with and
without weights, Mind the Gap is targeting differences in patients can currently do and what they

would like to be able to do to see if focusing on this area will improve the patients centered
rehabilitation (Reilly 1). Also, overtime the motions that we considered reflexive, actually
require attentional resources (Reilly 1). Another study focuses on sex differences and the effects
of a targeted kyphosis-specific exercise intervention on spinal curvature. Also, Dr. Sandra Radtka
Test the reliability of kinematics and kinetics on children, adolescents, and adults. To test the
reliability of this test, they use retro-reflective motion markers that were placed on subjects
(Allen 1). Much like every occupation, there are on-going studies to better the treatments.

Some functions for physical therapy include injury recoveries, chronic health functions,
significant disability rehabilitation, and childhood health conditions. Physical Therapy helps in
recovering from physical injuries like back pain by giving you specific exercises to reduce pain
in muscles, ligaments, and tendons (Agingcare 1). Patients with chronic diseases such as:
vertigo, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal tenosis, etc. Physical therapist will examine the patients
condition and develop programs to strengthen muscles, increasing range of motion and/ or
endurance. Physical injuries to the spinal cord or even stroke can cause serious disabilities if not
treated properly and quickly. Aging is also another problem that physical therapy helps."When
treating geriatric patients, physical therapists most often treat functional problems such as pain,
balance issues, poor endurance, trouble walking and poor muscle strength." (Agingcare 1)To
prevent disabilities physical therapists take care of the patients range of motion and physical
mobility, (walking, climbing stairs, muscular strength, and endurance). There are also many
different types of physical therapy ranging from: exercise, cold or heat therapy, manual therapy
(massage/ stretching), ultrasound, etc. Cold or heat is used to get instant relief from inflammation
and other muscle injuries. Ultrasound uses high-pitched sound waves to relax muscles before

exercising. (New Health Guide 1) A very important attribute needed in the field of physical
therapy is analyzation skills to figure out the best method to treat your patient.
"More than 204,000 physical therapists are licensed in the United States today. The
median salary for a physical therapist is $85,000. Salaries vary based on position, years of
experience, degree of education, geographic location, and practice setting (APTA 1)."The future
for physical therapists is currently looking incredibly bright. Employment for physical therapist
is projected to grow thirty six percent from 2012-2022, which is much faster than the average for
every type of occupation (Home 1). Demand will come from the aging baby boomers, which
studies show are staying active more and more as they increase in age as opposed to earlier
generations. As people age they are more likely to have strokes, heart attacks, and mobilityrelated injuries. Another reason for the expected demand it is because chronic conditions such as,
diabetes and obesity growing. There are also many advances in medical technology and it has
increased the use of outpatient surgery therefore, rehabilitation programs to regain mobility will
also increase.(Home 1) There are many unavoidable events in life places physical therapy in
constant demand.
Not only the growing employment rate for physical therapists, and so have the techniques
through on-going experiments. Being able to understand injuries is not the only challenge they
face, but one of the biggest if not the biggest problem is determining the proper method in which
to treat the patients injury. Diversity is needed to be a good physical therapy not only in your
dialect, but also in knowledge of all the methods of physical therapy. Having all of this skill set is
to do your best to get patients to recover from injuries, which sometimes can be life threatening
if not treated properly and quickly. Physical therapists also help patients who are ill with
numerous diseases like cancer. The doctors work to better those patients whose bodies have been

weakened by a disease by doing exercises that will give the patient more endurance. Even more
importantly physical therapists work with range of motion. They begin by seeing where the
patient is, physically, and where he or she wants to be and come up with the needed techniques to
improve the patient's health.