Today, Blair Saale, the assistant professor physical therapist at USA, visited us to talk about physical therapy and what specialists in the field do. A physical therapist treats disorders of movement caused by injury or disease, looks at the impact on function, and encourages the general population to restore, maintain, and promote overall fitness and health. They deal with patients directly and firsthand. They also work in various practice settings, such as hospitals, schools, rehabilitation centers, outpatient facilities, nursing homes, and universities, and even offer special care with at-home help or aquatic therapy training. Physical therapists care for many different patient populations, such as patients with musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cardiopulmonary, and integumentary problems, and people of all ages.
The role of a physical therapist is to gather evidence to figure out what is wrong with the patient. Blair used the analogy of a detective to explain how a physical therapist does this. First, they gather clues by examining the patient. Then, they put together all the clues by evaluating the medical data they found. Next, they diagnose the patient and give them a prognosis to fix their condition or reduce the pain of it. In intervention, this is carried out. The outcome will either be that the patient’s problem is solved, or the diagnosis and prognosis were completely wrong, and the physical therapist needs to rethink their plan and evidence.
We even learned about the difference between hemiplegia and hemiparesis. Yes, there is a difference. Hemiplegia means paralysis on one side of the body, and hemiparesis means weakness on one side of the body. They are two different medical conditions and are very serious at that. They are both caused by brain damage on the side of the brain opposite to the side of the body affected. This means if there is damage on the right side of the brain, then the left side of the body will be affected, and vice versa. Hemiplegia and hemiparesis are found in patients who might have had a seizure, stroke, or traumatic brain injury. Treatment for both of these conditions is physical therapy.
To get the whole physical therapy experience, we learned about qualitative movement analysis. Normally, a person is supposed to have forward momentum, lift-off, extension, and stabilization when it comes to standing up. It is a process that should be accomplished easily. Physical therapists use this as a test to figure out what part of the body a patient needs help strengthening. People who have movement problems have trouble with this process, so whatever part of it they struggle with will tell the physical therapist what they need to know. We got to try the movement analysis test with a partner and then timed ourselves to do it five times in a row. It was a unique experience.
In conclusion, physical therapy is a hands-on medical career that treats movement problems. Because it is direct care, it would be great for extroverts who love to help others. I would consider this as a career if I wasn’t going into dermatology or Obstetrics and gynecology.
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