Physical Therapy

Description of the Profession

Physical therapists (PTs) are licensed healthcare practitioners who diagnose and treat individuals of all ages, from newborns to the very oldest, which have medical problems or health-related conditions that limit their abilities to move and perform functional activities in their daily lives. They evaluate and develop treatment interventions for persons with health problems resulting from injuries, illness or disease. They help individuals restore and maintain overall fitness and health by using physical and mechanical means and work with other health care providers to reach those goals. In addition, PTs work with individuals to prevent loss of mobility before it occurs by developing fitness- and wellness-oriented programs for healthier and more active lifestyles.

Physical therapists provide care for people in a variety of settings, including hospitals, private practices, outpatient clinics, home health agencies, schools, sports and fitness facilities, work settings and nursing homes. State licensure is required in each state in which a physical therapist practices.

Skills and Characteristics Important to this Profession

Physical Therapists must have problem-solving skills, resourcefulness, patience, manual dexterity, physical stamina and the ability to work closely with people. From initial examination and evaluation through the discharge of a patient or client, the physical therapist's responsibility is to work with the individual to ensure maximal function. A love of lifelong learning, a positive attitude and an outgoing personality will serve a therapist well in this field.

It is important for prospective DPT students to take courses that develop critical thinking, problem solving and writing skills; expand their understanding of social, cultural, emotional and mental development; and strengthen their physical science skills. It is also extremely important that future DPT students are willing to work with people of all ages in varying stages of health and in inpatient and critical care settings. These skills should be developed and honed during high school and college through coursework and volunteer opportunities or employment in PT settings. See Professional Development and HPPLC-Sponsored Clubs for further suggestions.

Description of the Indiana University Physical Therapy Program

The IU School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences currently offers an accredited clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy (a DPT rather than a Ph.D.). The DPT program requires three years of post-graduate study (completion of a bachelor's degree is required before admission) on the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis. It consists of 101 semester hours of full-time coursework distributed over nine consecutive semesters, including didactic study and 18 full-time weeks of clinical experience. Prospective DPT students incorporate a list of prerequisite courses and other skills into an undergraduate major of their choosing (see Further Information below for a link to a complete list using IU Bloomington course names and numbers as well as additional info).

Other Accredited Programs

For a list of accredited physical therapy programs, see the Education link of the American Physical Therapy Association. HPPLC also has a reference binder of past surveys sent to all accredited programs with answers to common admission questions, such as how many observation hours are required, how GPA is calculated for admission purposes, whether or not the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is required, etc.

Additional Notes and Recommendations

Pre-PT students should research undergraduate majors and eventually choose one that they are interested in and/or enthusiastic about. Many undergraduate majors on the Bloomington campus include the required prerequisite coursework as part of their degree requirements. Others include enough elective hours that the PT prerequisites will not be considered "extra" and will count towards degree completion hours. Freshmen often choose "Exploratory" as their major and use the resources available on campus to decide which one to pursue, including their University Division (UD) advisors. UD offers individual appointments and workshops throughout the year to assist students with choosing their major. Prospective and current IU students should visit the award-winning Exploratory Student Resources website when they begin their major-choosing journey.

We encourage prospective PT students to understand the admission requirements of various programs because requirements vary greatly and they will want to apply to approximately 5-6 programs. For example, IU's DPT program does not require any biology coursework for admission. Many other programs not only require biology coursework for admission, but also specify one or two major level courses. They may also specify one lecture and lab, or two lectures only.

Job Shadowing / Observation

Prospective IU DPT students must complete a minimum of 16 hours total of observation and obtain volunteer or other work experiences in at least two distinctly different patient care settings (inpatient and acute care settings are especially helpful). Each experience must be at least 8 hours and be of sufficient time to enable the supervising physical therapist to adequately complete the Generic Abilities Assessment form.

Other programs may require 40-50 observation (or sometimes specifically volunteer) hours in one or more settings. Others require as many as 100 hours. Besides being a requirement for admission to most programs, job shadowing and observation is the best way for students to get a first hand look at a given profession and determine whether or not it is one they wish to look into further. HPPLC advisors strongly encourage you to take advantage of any such opportunities that arise during high school; or, if you are already in college, to arrange shadowing / observation as soon as possible.

Further Information

Refer to the HPPLC Physical Therapy handout for more detailed information about prerequisite courses, application and admission information, and for additional resources.

For an interesting interview with a practicing PT in Houston, Texas see the Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal.com.

If you are interested in other health professions that are advised through HPPLC, we encourage you to sign up for the HPPLC email list associated with your program(s) of interest. Feel free to sign up for more than one list. Also refer to the HPPLC handout, Health Professions Descriptions.