Thursday, June 23, 2011

Career Options for the Physical Therapy Assistant

Interest in professional and amateur sports are probably close to all-time highs!  Also people are exercising more and more to stay healthy.

So the fields of sports and exercise are wide open and expanding for the physical therapy assistant.  This is just one area that has seen a dramatic increase in demand for the physical therapy assistant.  

Physical Therapy Assistant Programs are a great choice for those coming out of high school.  This would make an excellent career choice.

Physical Therapy Assistant Programs are usually five semesters.  The certification varies state to state.

A new graduate can expect to earn in excess of $40,000 a year.  By far one of the best salaries out there for a two-year degree.

There are programs available in certain community colleges, junior colleges, large colleges and universities.  If you want to go to school locally I am sure there are a variety of programs available in your area.

The selection process will obviously be more rigorous if you are going away to college.

Obviously you need to find out what the prerequisites are for the final colleges on your list.

You want to visit the facilities of your final candidates to see the program being offered.  You want as much hands-on training as possible.  The more one-on-one access the better.

The best way of learning physical therapy is by doing. So you need to work with someone one-on-one to correct mistakes as soon as they happen so as not to get into bad habits.

In certain community colleges there will only be one class per semester.  There are class size limits so you need to look into whether you could get right into a class or if there is a waiting list, a grades minimum, or various other ways of selecting the class attendees.

When looking at various schools and narrowing down your choices you obviously want to weigh the cost of the program versus the quality, class-size, personal training, and one-on-one access to your instructors.

As with any discipline once you are proficient in your training you can specialize in one of the many different avenues available.  As stated earlier sports and exercise, pediatrics, geriatrics, as well is working with veterans are all fields of specialization that you can choose.

As the baby boomers get older more and more of them will require the assistance of a physical therapy assistant.  

Also unfortunately the way war is waged in the modern era we have many more survivors of campaigns with debilitating injuries!  Yes, this is another list of patients on the rise.

Try making a list yourself of the various parts of the population where the physical therapy assistant will be needed.  I'm sure you'll come up with a lot of others on your own.  To put it bluntly there is no lack of clientele for the physical therapy assistant.

So to recap if you are looking for a new career the physical therapy assistant is an excellent choice.  Pick one of the various physical therapy assistant programs and get yourself enrolled.

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