What do physiotherapy assistants do

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Department of Education. What does a physical therapist assistant do? Some essential physical therapist assistant duties, according to the BLS , include: 1 1. Assisting patients through exercises Physical therapy can be a slow, difficult process—and the exercises prescribed to patients can often be challenging. Treating patients with therapeutic interventions PTAs use a wide range of techniques to help their patients regain typical range of motion, including therapeutic massage.

What is working as a PTA like? Is a physical therapist assistant career on your radar? Request More Information. Talk with an admissions advisor today. First Name Please enter your first name.

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ZIP Code Please enter your five digit zip code. Program Program of Interest Please choose a program. This must be done in a supervised environment and with a physiotherapy assistant or physiotherapist. After an injury, most patients are concerned with recovery. If they are required to undergo physical therapy, a physiotherapy assistant may be responsible for helping them understand the nature of their injury and how to perform exercises at home.

The physiotherapy assistant may also answer basic questions from patients and their family members. Treat Patients Using Massage and Stretching. Physiotherapy assistants have a firm understanding of the value of stretching and massages. Massages and stretching exercises may be done under the supervision of a physiotherapist. Physiotherapy assistants often work closely with injured patients, and they frequently play an integral part in their recovery.

The physiotherapist will then decide on the best course of treatment for the injured person. Many physiotherapy assistants serve as assistants to physiotherapists.

They may schedule appointments, answer phone calls, take payments, and reply to emails while the office is open. Physiotherapy assistants should have a passion for helping others and the medical sciences. Employers tend to seek out physiotherapy assistants with the following skills and qualifications:.

This degree usually takes two years to earn, and students are required to take courses in anatomy, physiology, biology, chemistry, psychology, and kinesiology. No advanced education is required; most physiotherapy assistants receive extensive on-the-job-training under the supervision of a physiotherapist before they are allowed to work alone with patients.

This ranges from simply instructing and encouraging a patient through their exercises to physically helping them complete a difficult for them routine. If a patient needs assistance moving to or from a treatment area or office space, it's the PTA's job to help them along the way.

This includes being familiar with assistive devices that might be used during treatment and ambulatory assistive devices, like canes and walkers, that some patients may require for walking. Massaging sore muscles and pushing injured ones into deeper stretches are a couple of the more popular physical therapy techniques PTAs perform on their patients.

While the physical therapist will be the one to decide upon the individual patient's treatment plan, it is the PTA who will spend the most time with both the patient and their family. That means it's the PTAs job to educate patients and families about what to do during sessions, what to do at home, and what they should expect after treatment ends. Because PTAs are expected to work closely with their patients, they are tasked with monitoring each patient's environment in order to identify any needs or barriers that might negatively impact the patient's therapy and recovery.

Their job is to observe and make recommendations for better, more comfortable accommodations to the physical therapist and enact those recommendations where and when possible. From scheduling patient-therapy dates to recording billable treatment times to providing documentation for Medicaid and Medicare patients, PTAs are expected to juggle much of the paperwork involved in a physical therapy practice.

This makes this career one of the most lucrative wages in terms of careers or positions obtained with an associate's degree. Plus, with employment of this career expected to increase 41 percent from to , this is considered a very financially secure field of study to pursue.

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