A physical therapist is a healthcare professional who can diagnose and treat individuals who have a number of diseases or medical problems that affect activities of daily living. Physical therapists help those individuals to restore or maintain lost function necessary for improving quality of life. A physical therapist assistant works as part of the team to provide physical therapy services under the direction and supervision of the physical therapist.
Physical therapist will either have a physical therapy bachelors degree or a doctor of physical therapy degree. To practice as a physical therapist in the United States you must earn a physical therapy degree from a CAPTE (Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education) accredited physical therapist education program and pass a national license or exam. A physical therapist assistant must obtain a CEC a PTE accredited two-year associate degree and pass and national license or exam
Your primary care physician or other specialists orthopedic surgeon PA and PDO etc. can write a prescription for you to be treated by a licensed physical therapist.
On your first visit your physical therapist will be getting to know you your physical therapist will take a patient client history to help develop a diagnosis treatment plan. Following the history of the clinician will conduct a systems review to rule out any contraindications to physical therapy. Finally tests and measures will help the physical therapist to identify any potential existing problems. Your physical therapist will use these findings to develop a treatment plan and will provide you with interventions to achieve your goals. Interventions may include but are not limited to manual treatment modalities therapeutic exercise and neuromuscular reeducation your first visit will take one hour but could last longer depending on the nature of your condition follow up visits are individualized to the nature of the condition and goals set therefore could take anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes.
Generally patients schedule 2 to 3 therapy sessions per week but many factors are considered such as patient’s needs based on the initial evaluation, patients availability and insurance allowances.
Yes. After a full of evaluation, your physical therapist will design a personalized home exercise program to meet your specific goals. You will be sent home with a worksheet containing detailed directions for each exercise as well as any required tools such as exercise bands or tubing.
Yes. Typically as physical therapist, we will write progress notes to the doctor updating them on your progress. We also may call and speak directly to them over the phone.
You can do a simple internet search or look through a phone book. Both will direct you towards a physical therapy clinic where you can find a physical therapist. There are many different letters you may see at the end of a physical therapist’s name. Here are a few of the more common ones.
PT: physical therapist
- MSPT: Masters of physical therapy
- DPT: doctorate of physical therapy
- OCS: orthopedic certified specialist
- SCS: Sports certified specialist
- MPS: Microcurrent Point Stimulation
As physical therapists, there are many different places we practice; outpatient clinics (such as ours), hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, nursing homes and even at patient’s houses.
In our office the Physical Therapist and Physical Therapist Assistant licenses are located in our front lobby area. You can also look up physical therapist’s that are licensed in New York at Find Physical a Therapist
We keep all of the patient’s information given to us on our secure system. This includes evaluations, treatment plans, treatment notes, prescriptions, insurance information, etc. No one has access to that information other than people at this facility.
We always appreciate direct feedback. We also have a patient satisfaction survey that you can complete.