The Importance Of Physical Therapy

There is a lot of shadowing and interning that ties into physical therapy because, as mentioned earlier, the main aspect of this job is the literal physicality of it. Therefore, there isn’t much room for writing involved in this process, because it’s more of getting a sense of how to deal with patients, more hands-on rather than technical. The image I picked for my meme, of an older PT helping an intern work a machine, shows just what kind of firsthand experience is involved in the field. When I asked Rebozzi what some of the best things about being a physical therapist were, she told me, “it’s not a desk job, so that’s a plus.” This illustrates how, even if physical therapists do have to write a lot every day, the majority of their job is

This is where the writing convention of SOAP notes comes in. SOAP, an acronym for “Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan” is how physical therapists fill out their treatment notes every session they have with a patient (Rebozzi). “Subjective” is where the PT writes down what the patient tells them about their condition, with direct quotes in an attempt to be as accurate as possible. This area is quite detailed because the PT inquires about the patient’s "current status in terms of their function, disability, symptoms and history" (Buxton). “Objective” is the outline of treatments that the PT had the patient go through in that session, with specific details and measurements noted down, stressing easy replicability (“Interpreting Physical Therapy Notes.”). “Assessment” is where the PT writes down their notes about how they think the client is reacting to treatment, and to what extent they are improving (Buxton). This is considered to be

Patient evaluations have to happen either way, whether the client is a 75-year-old grandmother of seven with a broken hip, or a 23-year-old world-class soccer player. The patient needs to know how they are doing because their rehabilitation is always the PT’s number one priority. Documentation is perhaps even more important in a professional sports aspect because there is a lot of pressure on the player, and therefore more pressure on the physiotherapist. The PT has to make sure the athlete is getting the treatment that will help them recover quickly and ensure that the future risk of them injuring that same body part again is at a minimum. In addition, a PT’s life is much more public in a pro-sports setting. From my experience following the NBA as well as professional European league soccer, PTs have to write media reports on injured players’ conditions, after they primarily get injured as well as during their rehabilitation period. This is so the public knows what has happened to the athlete, as well as an approximation of when they will return to