subject: Physical Therapists And Physical Therapy Assistants [print this page] Your doctor, or sports medicine doctor, has told you that you need to have physical therapy. Physical therapists are often called in when a patient needs to work on their muscles or their tendons or tissues, such as when they've had a bad accident, have a repetitious injury, or when they're recovering from surgery. There are a number of reasons why a physical therapist may be asked to help a patient. Some patients are too nervous to visit a physical therapist, however, because they're not sure what to expect.
Painless?
There are many misconceptions about physical therapy, including the pain. Some people believe that any amount of therapy that you get into is just begging for you to be in pain, but this doesn't have to be true. While there are many instances in which a visit with your physical therapist will cause you to be a bit sore, a physical therapist is not there to make you get into serious pain. They are there to help you to prevent serious injury and to help you to recover. This may mean being a bit achy while they're working on certain parts of your body with you, but there should never be any serious pain. If there is, speak with the physical therapist and they will work with you to help you to figure out how to work on the area that needs to be helped without any serious pain.
Most likely you were sent to physical therapy so that you could get rid of the pain that you're dealing with, so it has to be expected that there will be a slight bit of soreness, but the pain should not be serious. It's important to remember that it can take months or even years to fully recover from some conditions, but that, if you stick with therapy, your physical therapist should be able to help you.
Physical Therapy Assistants
Physical therapists spend years in training, but physical therapy assistants do not. Physical therapy assistants are there to assist the physical therapists in any way possible, but most often, when you visit a physical therapy business, you'll find the assistants helping by moving patients from one room to another or noting down the patient's productivity while they're working out. In case you think that the therapy assistants that you'll be working with don't know anything, it's important to note that they definitely do. In order to be a therapy assistant there is a lot of training and certification that goes into the assistant, and many times therapy assistants are working on becoming physical therapists themselves!
Physical therapists can be a huge help in recovering from trauma or surgery, or even in helping with medical problems such as cardiovascular disease. If your doctor has requested that you visit a physical therapist, don't be scared, as you will be treated well and will be well on your way to recovering properly thanks to their help.
