Pre-Physical Therapy

Program Overview

This program prepares students to become physical therapists who work in various settings to help patients with physical impairments. They assist patients in regaining mobility, improving endurance, and managing pain. Physical therapists also develop and implement exercise programs to help patients recover from injuries or prevent further injury.

Program Outline

Careers:

• Physical therapists work in clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings to help patients.
>Following are examples: >* Helping a patient with a spinal-cord injury develop the endurance needed to maneuver a wheelchair up and down ramps >* Implementing an exercise program to enable an injured athlete to return to competition >* Helping an infant with cerebral palsy learn to sit independently >* Developing an exercise program as part of a multidisciplinary osteoporosis prevention program offered within a retirement community >* Evaluating an assembly worker who sustained an on-the-job injury, recommending a physical therapy treatment program, and working with the shift supervisor to modify the workstation to prevent further injury >* Providing ambulation training to enable an elderly person to return home after a hip fracture