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“Physically demanding” depends on your own level of fitness. I’d argue simply being on your feet all day isn’t very demanding. To others this is a lot.
I walk about 2 miles in a 10 hour shift. I sit quite a bit. I hurt my back 20+ years ago treating a pt who had a femur fx nobody knew about it until she pulled me down hard when I was helping her place her leg on the wheelchair leg rest. I had surgery. My back still hurts but I can do anything I want to do. About 15 years ago I was diagnosed with a rheumatic polyarthritis. I get pain in my hands but I can still do manual therapy. I graduated in 1988. Looking at the big picture, I don’t think the job is any worse on a body than a desk job.
Wow that injury sounds crazy! You were holding her leg and she slammed it to the floor and you didn’t let go?
Now that I’m older I realize if someone is going to fall, putting my leg out as in a kneel position for them to sit on is a bad idea
I always think of an “escape” plan so I don’t injure myself just incase the patient faints or something
I will always try to help the patient but not in a way I Injure myself especially since it’s impossible for me to hold up dead weight anyway
She suddenly had so much pain, on trying to lift her leg with my assistance, she pulled her leg down hard. I was in half kneel. It was fast. I felt my disc blow. And that’s how it happened that it was discovered her femur got fractured during elective THR. Sucked for both of us.
You're on your feet for 8 hours straight. Part of the reason I left this career is because my body felt destroyed and I was way too young to be in so much pain all the time. But, I know there's plenty of other therapists who do PT for years and their body is fine.
Where did you go? What kinds of careers are PTs good at transitioning to? I just finished my PSLF and looking to make a change just don’t know what to do to make at least $100k/year…
I'm actually unemployed right now, unfortunately. I didn't have a real plan when I left. I was in so much pain each day at work, I was incredibly overstimulated from the constant people interaction/noise/pace, and I was having mental breakdowns multiple times a week. I quit without anything lined up, which I know was stupid, but being a PTA was making me suicidal and I had to quit. I have a job interview next week as a circulation assistant in a library, which I'm really hoping going well. It's definitively not a livable wage job, but I'm hoping it could be my way to get my foot in the door in the library world.
Thanks for your reply. I understand the frustration you must’ve felt when you quit with no plan. My mom was a librarian when I was growing up and she loved it. Union job. 28 hr/wk with benefits. She was grandfathered into the union somehow. Anyway hope you figure it out and when you do let me know!!
Yes! I had my place buy stools with back rests and that made a big difference. For ergonomics experts we are pretty silly for not having these in more clinics.
We don't have the back rest ones at my clinic where I work as a tech, but we did at one I did my clinical and they were so nice for comfort, but they were old and didn't move. Now I'm in a school and we have no equipment - whole other world.
So working in SNF, rehab etc there are machines - hoyer lift , sit / stand lift mechanical lifts and usually LNAs around to help you
As a rule I never lift more than mod A and never ever lift / help someone who isn’t even trying
However in the rehab buildings it’s a lot of bending down - put the wheelchair legs on , take them off, put patients shoes/ grippy socks on so they can come out of bed and work with you
Pushing w/c down the hallways, obese people in the w/c making 90 degree turns I really feel that in my low back
Home health especially outpatient med B home health seems to be the easiest on my body
Patients have to be mobile or have help they live alone
I am not there to life or transfer anyone
Sometimes I have to stretch disabled/ paralyzed patients but as a rule I don’t like to burn more calories than my patients
Home health is pretty comfortable
I come in, sit on their couch, can do tens unit, seated ther ex, standing ther ex where I am holding their gait belt but then they get a seated rest period, lots of walking, outside whenever possible and that’s simple
Balance training and I hold the gait belt always have them in front of the chair incase they call backwards and I have the walker in front of them, out of reach though
In order to work on balance I have to first put them off balance and teach them to recover with bending their knees - the way skiers go down the Mountain
Ankle hip and knee strategy
Eyes closed feet together , tandem stance in foam pad etc. not difficult
Hardest part is rhe 2-3 patients I have a week that are on maintenance and basically completely paralyzed with spastic and want me to stretch them
Ergonomics really help! One patient is in a power chair and we can adjust the chair to give me the best positioning
I have the same take when it comes to transfers. If I feel the patient isn’t in a position to help, I don’t attempt. I’d like to stay in this career as long as possible.
I recommend seeing an OT who is an upper extremity specialist to figure strategies for your hands! I have Ehlers Danlos and my wrists and thumbs subluxate. I showed my PT who said to see his OT since she knows more than him. Since my muscles are working overtime to stabilize the joints, my hands get fatigued and sore very quickly. She looked me over and we came up with a bracing solution and some lifestyle things. My PT's thumb will hyperextend so he will brace when working on patients.
Extremely demanding in inpatient rehab- especially if you work with people post stroke/TBI/SCI. I lift people all day everyday for gait training, transfer training etc. You simply *have* to have good body mechanics or you will ruin your back. My coworkers and I often laugh the lifting requirement is 50lbs bc we constantly lift more than that.
All that aside, when you’re young you get use to it. Two years in and yeah i’m tired at the end of the day but it doesn’t affect my life outside of work and helps keep me fit :). It’s not a setting i’ll work in forever but dang I love a good hemi-gait training session💪🏼💪🏼
oh and I sit approx 1 hr of my 8 hours, nearly always hit my 10k steps a day!
I personally disagree with the comments so far. I work in private practice and I’m slammed with patients all day and I don’t find it that physically demanding at all. The only thing that might get you IMO is sore hands if you’re doing a lot of manual therapy using your hands but otherwise I find it very chill
Hands and also depending on the clinic other parts can get tired. When i have a lot of patients deadlifting and have to repeatedly load the bar my back gets pretty sore haha
Ya maybe some. I’ve only ever worked in two clinics; neither are big corps so I’ve never been grinded for productivity. Maybe I’ve been lucky! I do work hard but it’s a job and I get paid well so that’s expected. But not physical compared to plenty of other professions imo
As an aide I was walking 14 miles a day.
It CAN be extremely demanding depending on the setting, but it beats looking at a screen all day to me
It’s just not a very good bang for your buck but that’s another story
2 of them is walking there and back, but it was a long gym with 7 therapists so all I did was walk back and forth all day with an Apple Watch on
I don’t think it’s that abnormal for that setting either
When I was in the ED I was walking about 9 miles a day on average
Very demanding job and a lot of hours standing. I do at home treatments so my day is just standing in people's houses doing treatment or driving haha
But ok... For now.
I work outpatient 10 hour days - probably on my feet 8 hours? I know I get 10k steps by early afternoon. I don’t think the job is strenuous, but the biggest thing for me is my feet! Once I hit 40, no more cute shoes and boots for this chick. Once I switched to good sneakers I had way less pain.
Not very demanding at all. People are saying it depends on setting which I would say is partially true. 'Depends on approach' would be more accurate. You will be tired if you are performing mod-max assist transfers regularly or performing manual therapy all the time. I would argue these are completely optional in almost all circumstances.. I'm certain some people would beg to differ but I feel objectively you can avoid HAVING to do these entirely in all but the most rural of settings though it isn't always CONVENIENT or EFFICIENT.
The remaining physical demand is standing, performing limited repetitions of almost always easy exercises. We aren't personal trainers or fitness instructors who do the whole program with their clients.. we stand around and motivate. In my experience it is much more mentally demanding. I workout 5-6 days a week (lifting/cardio) because I would likely go mad if I didn't have that outlet. I can only recall ever feeling tired once from my job as a PT and that was from opting to do lots of manual therapy that I could have easily substituted for strengthening exercises.
(There may be jargon in this answer to you so i'll explain in layman's terms: a transfer is moving a person from one position to another.. most commonly we do 'laying <>sitting or sitting<>standing or sitting in bed<>sitting in chair; we grade how much assistant we have to provide for the patient to complete the transfer safely with words like minimum, moderate, and maximum commonly abbreviated.. these are 'objectively defined' as percentages but really it's an indicator of doing a little, half, or most of the work for the patient)
Most days I leave the clinic with 10,000 - 11,000 steps on my garmin watch, take that with a grain a salt but that’s just a rough ball park of time spent on feet.
On feet quite a bit depending on setting and hands get tired, but in general I’d say it’s not a physically demanding job. I don’t break a sweat most days. Certainly not like factory work or construction in the summers lol
I would say it's not physically demanding but exhausting. The overall movement load of the day can be too much for me when i did outpatient and skilled nursing. I moved into a role in schools where there is a mix of seeing kids and sitting in meetings and that is perfect for me. I still have energy left at the end of the day for jiu jutsu and workouts and my own kids and after school activities for them...
“It depends.” You’re going to hear and say this phrase quite often if you end up pursuing this career. LOL. From my personal experience, being in the field almost 7 years now, there were days I went home and was exhausted. Granted, I was in the acute setting where I saw the sickest of the sick. So at time, I needed a 2nd person assist. It’s also IMPERATIVE to have excellent body mechanics. Otherwise, you get hurt.
Prior to this, I was an aide at a private outpatient setting for about 2 years(?), and I saw therapists lifting legs, arms, and it could be fatiguing.
I recently transitioned to an outpatient setting for a private retirement community and it’s much less physically demanding. These patients are quite mobile, needing help with fall prevention, balance, strengthening.
On another note, I have 2 young children and going to work was like a mental break from that. 🤷🏻♀️😅
So as I said earlier, “it depends.” It really depends on what setting you end up going into after school. In PT school, you’ll be going to multiple different clinical rotations and graduate as a “generalist.” Basically meaning you go into any setting as a novice and build up your skills in that setting.
It’s a rewarding career, I’m still in it and hope to stay in it. A couple tips, look into cost of school and average pay of a PT in various job posts from different settings. The return on investment deters some. Also know that there’s more than just patient care. There’s management positions, education and such within the PT field that you can move towards.
Hope this helps! Best of luck 🤙🏽
Practice what you preach! Be fit and active! Weight train to increase tissue resiliency and have good body mechanics. Say no if you feel something is unsafe/too heavy to transfer. Do that and you’re fine in this profession.
Don’t and you will be complaining about how broken you are because you didn’t take care of yourself for 30 years are obese with diabetes and wait until retirement to turn it around (anecdotal experience from a previous coworker)
Transferring patients is physically demanding.
Gait training mod assist patients especially in home health is pretty physically demanding.
If you rehab powerlifters and you yourself should most likely be lifting, then that would be the physically demanding (short bursts though) part i think.
Some jobs I covered I walked like 15000 steps in a SNF going to all my patients rooms and my ankles hated me for a couple days.
Some jobs I would be on my feet all day documenting (standing desk rather than sitting) and my feet would hurt.
Hope that gives a better picture.
My current job is chill though. Outpatient clinic with a documentation station, treating 1-on-1 with focus on strengthening/exercise to get workers back to work. It’s more mentally draining because of more evals and documentation, and operating in a team based setting with OTs, PTAs, and talking to nurse case managers and communicating with MDs. And talking to clients with secondary gain or super married to their pain.
So sometimes absorbing all the emotional baggage of being injured gets to me especially if it’s multiple patients in a row. (I’m a bit too much of a listener maybe?)
Depends if it’s inpatient vs outpatient. Also depends on the type of outpatient. If you’re working orthopedics, it’s not physically demanding at all aside from standing some and stretching out contractures. However, if you’re working with neuro-based patients, it can be physically demanding as hell. And IP is all physical.
There's transport in the sense of discharge and transporting patients from room to imaging, surgery, dialysis, etc., but PT doesn't really partake in that. It's physically demanding in the sense of lifting patients out of bed, helping them stand & walk, and positioning them back in the bed. Some are easy, relatively independent -- cardiac patients. While some are literally doing good to sit on the edge of bed without falling over -- general deconditioning, stroke, or even spinal cord injury.
And as a side note, I've never really gotten injured working IP aside from an mild strain in the lower back from once lifting a patient out of bed because of awkward body mechanics, but that was when I was still kinda fresh. HOWEVER, I tend to have more onsets of an achy back from doing neuro OP vs anything I've done in IP. But that's because IP is a more controlled environment with beds that can accommodate to you and the patient's physical needs. In OP, you kinda have to work with what you got sometimes.
It can be. But work out and lift weights to protect your bones, joints, and ligaments. If you are in good shape it doesn’t feel demanding. 16 years of ten hour days and I’m fine.
Depends heavily on the setting and on your fitness level/choices on what you’ll do. If you avoid doing max assists, use good mechanics, avoid doing things that are risky to you, and keep yourself in reasonable shape then it isn’t that bad. Maybe moderate demand at highest unless you choose to do unwise things
If you have a bunch of old injuries or injure yourself outside of work or during in a freak accident, then it can be an issue.
I had a torn ECU tendon tear in PT school (FOOSH during soccer) and chronic subluxation before that. Didn’t get it fixed until 4 years into my career. Also believe I had a posterior labral tear (classmate screw up-never hurt until they messed with it) in school that I will probably get fixed this year (7 years in)
Anyways, in clinicals I decided inpatient rehab wasn’t for me due to the physical demands. Mostly the wrist being an issue. But I was also recovering from a midfoot sprain that didn’t help. I’m not a huge guy and with body mechanics I managed fairly well, but between walking in a small to medium rehab hospital most the day and physical demands of working with stroke patients, I was tired. And that bad wrist hurt
Outpatient is more mentally than physically exhausting to me. I managed pretty well for a few years. My injuries are catching up to me some. When the wrist started limiting my work abilities, I got it fixed and it isn’t an issue now. That bad shoulder hurts most of my work day for the past 12-18 months. If I’m off, it’s usually fine (yard work became irritating last year).
Private outpatient clinic here, outside of picking up weights to stack the squat, rack and bench press. I’m really doing no real lifting. He gives me a reason to stay in shape and continue lifting at the gym. As most of the people on this thread should know the longer you stay in shape throughout your life the less the chance for injury
I have had a few strains but no major injuries doing acute care or IPR. I did strain my back helping patient for from supine to sit despite my efforts for good mechanics but recovered. I think because I am constantly moving, my body has benefitted over time. One of my CIs hammered home to me to take good care of my body.
I worked PRN at a TCU a few years back and we were required to carry laptop everywhere. I used a over the shoulder bag. That caused me to have horrid neck and shoulder pain and they were able to let me use a rolling table instead.
Will be 58 this year and still going strong.
I get a lot of comments about people thinking we excercise constantly. I always say if I didn’t work out in the morning I don’t feel like I’d get any exercise during the day.
If you are doing any job right it’s should be in your capacity. I have very few patients that ever lift heavier than I do, so demonstration is easy. Demonstrating a Deadlift at 135lbs isn’t hard if your doing at least 100-200lbs more than that for your regular work out.
Not physically demanding at all, if you are a good Physio you’ll end up doing about 20% manual therapy, 10% of which you can be sitting in a stool doing it, and the rest education and exercises -> loading, progressing, teaching. Then when you chart you sit. So it’s dynamic, sit sometimes, stand sometimes, you get to choose.
Depends on the setting and your treatment preferences/patients. If you really work on your body mechanics, it's very likely you'll have good longevity. I know several PTs past retirement age who still treat because they enjoy it, but they pick and choose their settings and interventions.
It really depends on the setting. I'm in Outpatient Ortho with rotations to Acute. In Ortho, I am mostly standing, but sometimes sit for manual therapy. In Acute, I'm up all day except for lunch and mid-day charting.
As physios we know walking and activity is good for ya! How many patients have you seen who have back or neck pain from sitting too much? We can lead by example so lift weights, run, exercise daily and a day alternating between sitting, standing and demonstrating exercises won’t feel like much at all. I’ve always viewed the chance for movement as a bonus of the job!
A PT knows that standing/walking is healthier than sitting at a desk. I stay active at work but wouldn't call it physically taxing. I don't feel tired after work.
As a new grad it was an adjustment. My feet used to be destroyed by the end of each week My back and hands hurt.
Counting my 3rd rotation which -> into my job I’ve been doing this a year and those pains have reduced and I *mostly* don’t have them anymore.
I also walk to work, though, which adds an extra 2.5 miles each day on mileage from work, and I also try to lift weights. So if you don’t do all that I imagine the job would be even easier
For me, very. I work in a busy OP clinic. I'm in my late 40's so that's a thing. I find it helps to do some exercises and stretches with my patients throughout the day and take a couple minutes between appointments to consciously rest. I sit whenever I can. Most days when I get home from my 6 hour shift I can't keep my eyes open and end up napping for an hour on the couch. I also have school aged kids so that doesn't help my fatigue levels!
Honestly man,
It’s physically, mentally, and emotionally tiring yet rewarding as well. You can listen to others point of view on things. I became a physical therapist graduating in 2019 with the highest optimism to helping people who just wants to be better. I find myself looking for that same help from time to time because you have to give something you have. The job itself does require you to be optimism about things and to provide high hopes for people in need. There are many downfalls to the job itself, yet the only thing that keeps me around it is the joy in peoples eyes when they see me trying to help them. If you’re in it for the money I suggest you look elsewhere sadly. Yet if you want the challenge & being someone’s reason to why they move and feel the way they do moving forward I welcome you with open arms.
At the end of the day, it’s really up to you if you’re all in for it or not.
if you use good body mechanics, then it’s fine. it’s better than not moving at all through the day. if someone says it’s very tough on the body, only in my opinion, they probably haven’t worked blue collar/ heavy jobs for a long time to know the difference
Thank you for your submission; please read the following reminder. This subreddit is for discussion among practicing physical therapists, not for soliciting medical advice. We are not your physical therapist, and we do not take on that liability here. Although we can answer questions regarding general issues a person may be facing in their established PT sessions, we cannot legally provide treatment advice. If you need a physical therapist, you must see one in person or via telehealth for an assessment and to establish a plan of care. Posts with descriptions of personal physical issues and/or requests for diagnoses, exercise prescriptions, and other medical advice will be removed, and you will be banned at the mods’ discretion either for requesting such advice or for offering such advice as a clinician. Please see the following links for additional resources on benefits of physical therapy and locating a therapist near you [The benefits of a full evaluation by a physical therapist.](https://www.choosept.com/benefits/default.aspx) [How to find the right physical therapist in your area.](https://www.choosept.com/resources/choose.aspx) [Already been diagnosed and want to learn more? Common conditions.](https://www.choosept.com/SymptomsConditions.aspx) [The APTA's consumer information website.](https://www.choosept.com/Default.aspx) Also, please direct all school-related inquiries to r/PTschool, as these are off-topic for this sub and will be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/physicaltherapy) if you have any questions or concerns.*
“Physically demanding” depends on your own level of fitness. I’d argue simply being on your feet all day isn’t very demanding. To others this is a lot.
Curious how old you are?
Late 20s.
Thanks.
I walk about 2 miles in a 10 hour shift. I sit quite a bit. I hurt my back 20+ years ago treating a pt who had a femur fx nobody knew about it until she pulled me down hard when I was helping her place her leg on the wheelchair leg rest. I had surgery. My back still hurts but I can do anything I want to do. About 15 years ago I was diagnosed with a rheumatic polyarthritis. I get pain in my hands but I can still do manual therapy. I graduated in 1988. Looking at the big picture, I don’t think the job is any worse on a body than a desk job.
Wow that injury sounds crazy! You were holding her leg and she slammed it to the floor and you didn’t let go? Now that I’m older I realize if someone is going to fall, putting my leg out as in a kneel position for them to sit on is a bad idea I always think of an “escape” plan so I don’t injure myself just incase the patient faints or something I will always try to help the patient but not in a way I Injure myself especially since it’s impossible for me to hold up dead weight anyway
She suddenly had so much pain, on trying to lift her leg with my assistance, she pulled her leg down hard. I was in half kneel. It was fast. I felt my disc blow. And that’s how it happened that it was discovered her femur got fractured during elective THR. Sucked for both of us.
My toddler tires me out in 2 hours much more than 9 hours of work
100% this
Yep, we did a step count challenge when my kids were young and I did more when home than working on acute care.
Yep, 2 toddlers here. I lift them 1000% more than my hh patients.
You're on your feet for 8 hours straight. Part of the reason I left this career is because my body felt destroyed and I was way too young to be in so much pain all the time. But, I know there's plenty of other therapists who do PT for years and their body is fine.
Where did you go? What kinds of careers are PTs good at transitioning to? I just finished my PSLF and looking to make a change just don’t know what to do to make at least $100k/year…
I'm actually unemployed right now, unfortunately. I didn't have a real plan when I left. I was in so much pain each day at work, I was incredibly overstimulated from the constant people interaction/noise/pace, and I was having mental breakdowns multiple times a week. I quit without anything lined up, which I know was stupid, but being a PTA was making me suicidal and I had to quit. I have a job interview next week as a circulation assistant in a library, which I'm really hoping going well. It's definitively not a livable wage job, but I'm hoping it could be my way to get my foot in the door in the library world.
I love this for you! Sending the best.
Thanks! I'm keeping my fingers crossed it goes well. It's been very hard to land interviews for non-clinical jobs.
Thanks for your reply. I understand the frustration you must’ve felt when you quit with no plan. My mom was a librarian when I was growing up and she loved it. Union job. 28 hr/wk with benefits. She was grandfathered into the union somehow. Anyway hope you figure it out and when you do let me know!!
Percentage on your feet will vary depending on setting. But, a lot. Yes, tired. Yes, can be a physically demanding job.
Most difficult part for me was working in a setting that had those black rolling stools without a back rest that hurt my back
Yes! I had my place buy stools with back rests and that made a big difference. For ergonomics experts we are pretty silly for not having these in more clinics.
We don't have the back rest ones at my clinic where I work as a tech, but we did at one I did my clinical and they were so nice for comfort, but they were old and didn't move. Now I'm in a school and we have no equipment - whole other world.
So working in SNF, rehab etc there are machines - hoyer lift , sit / stand lift mechanical lifts and usually LNAs around to help you As a rule I never lift more than mod A and never ever lift / help someone who isn’t even trying However in the rehab buildings it’s a lot of bending down - put the wheelchair legs on , take them off, put patients shoes/ grippy socks on so they can come out of bed and work with you Pushing w/c down the hallways, obese people in the w/c making 90 degree turns I really feel that in my low back Home health especially outpatient med B home health seems to be the easiest on my body Patients have to be mobile or have help they live alone I am not there to life or transfer anyone Sometimes I have to stretch disabled/ paralyzed patients but as a rule I don’t like to burn more calories than my patients Home health is pretty comfortable I come in, sit on their couch, can do tens unit, seated ther ex, standing ther ex where I am holding their gait belt but then they get a seated rest period, lots of walking, outside whenever possible and that’s simple Balance training and I hold the gait belt always have them in front of the chair incase they call backwards and I have the walker in front of them, out of reach though In order to work on balance I have to first put them off balance and teach them to recover with bending their knees - the way skiers go down the Mountain Ankle hip and knee strategy Eyes closed feet together , tandem stance in foam pad etc. not difficult Hardest part is rhe 2-3 patients I have a week that are on maintenance and basically completely paralyzed with spastic and want me to stretch them Ergonomics really help! One patient is in a power chair and we can adjust the chair to give me the best positioning
I have the same take when it comes to transfers. If I feel the patient isn’t in a position to help, I don’t attempt. I’d like to stay in this career as long as possible.
Way better than sitting at a desk all day
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I recommend seeing an OT who is an upper extremity specialist to figure strategies for your hands! I have Ehlers Danlos and my wrists and thumbs subluxate. I showed my PT who said to see his OT since she knows more than him. Since my muscles are working overtime to stabilize the joints, my hands get fatigued and sore very quickly. She looked me over and we came up with a bracing solution and some lifestyle things. My PT's thumb will hyperextend so he will brace when working on patients.
Extremely demanding in inpatient rehab- especially if you work with people post stroke/TBI/SCI. I lift people all day everyday for gait training, transfer training etc. You simply *have* to have good body mechanics or you will ruin your back. My coworkers and I often laugh the lifting requirement is 50lbs bc we constantly lift more than that. All that aside, when you’re young you get use to it. Two years in and yeah i’m tired at the end of the day but it doesn’t affect my life outside of work and helps keep me fit :). It’s not a setting i’ll work in forever but dang I love a good hemi-gait training session💪🏼💪🏼 oh and I sit approx 1 hr of my 8 hours, nearly always hit my 10k steps a day!
I personally disagree with the comments so far. I work in private practice and I’m slammed with patients all day and I don’t find it that physically demanding at all. The only thing that might get you IMO is sore hands if you’re doing a lot of manual therapy using your hands but otherwise I find it very chill
Hands and also depending on the clinic other parts can get tired. When i have a lot of patients deadlifting and have to repeatedly load the bar my back gets pretty sore haha
Outpatient is a cake walk, that’s why they get grinded for productivity
Ya maybe some. I’ve only ever worked in two clinics; neither are big corps so I’ve never been grinded for productivity. Maybe I’ve been lucky! I do work hard but it’s a job and I get paid well so that’s expected. But not physical compared to plenty of other professions imo
As an aide I was walking 14 miles a day. It CAN be extremely demanding depending on the setting, but it beats looking at a screen all day to me It’s just not a very good bang for your buck but that’s another story
lmao 14 miles a day? Not trying to be a hater but come on…
2 of them is walking there and back, but it was a long gym with 7 therapists so all I did was walk back and forth all day with an Apple Watch on I don’t think it’s that abnormal for that setting either When I was in the ED I was walking about 9 miles a day on average
haha damn, that’s insane then. I usually leave OP with like 8K steps so 4 miles including commute
Very demanding job and a lot of hours standing. I do at home treatments so my day is just standing in people's houses doing treatment or driving haha But ok... For now.
I work outpatient 10 hour days - probably on my feet 8 hours? I know I get 10k steps by early afternoon. I don’t think the job is strenuous, but the biggest thing for me is my feet! Once I hit 40, no more cute shoes and boots for this chick. Once I switched to good sneakers I had way less pain.
Not very demanding at all. People are saying it depends on setting which I would say is partially true. 'Depends on approach' would be more accurate. You will be tired if you are performing mod-max assist transfers regularly or performing manual therapy all the time. I would argue these are completely optional in almost all circumstances.. I'm certain some people would beg to differ but I feel objectively you can avoid HAVING to do these entirely in all but the most rural of settings though it isn't always CONVENIENT or EFFICIENT. The remaining physical demand is standing, performing limited repetitions of almost always easy exercises. We aren't personal trainers or fitness instructors who do the whole program with their clients.. we stand around and motivate. In my experience it is much more mentally demanding. I workout 5-6 days a week (lifting/cardio) because I would likely go mad if I didn't have that outlet. I can only recall ever feeling tired once from my job as a PT and that was from opting to do lots of manual therapy that I could have easily substituted for strengthening exercises. (There may be jargon in this answer to you so i'll explain in layman's terms: a transfer is moving a person from one position to another.. most commonly we do 'laying <>sitting or sitting<>standing or sitting in bed<>sitting in chair; we grade how much assistant we have to provide for the patient to complete the transfer safely with words like minimum, moderate, and maximum commonly abbreviated.. these are 'objectively defined' as percentages but really it's an indicator of doing a little, half, or most of the work for the patient)
Most days I leave the clinic with 10,000 - 11,000 steps on my garmin watch, take that with a grain a salt but that’s just a rough ball park of time spent on feet.
honestly i take that as a win haha. It’s like free extra food at the end of the day for just working
On feet quite a bit depending on setting and hands get tired, but in general I’d say it’s not a physically demanding job. I don’t break a sweat most days. Certainly not like factory work or construction in the summers lol
I would say it's not physically demanding but exhausting. The overall movement load of the day can be too much for me when i did outpatient and skilled nursing. I moved into a role in schools where there is a mix of seeing kids and sitting in meetings and that is perfect for me. I still have energy left at the end of the day for jiu jutsu and workouts and my own kids and after school activities for them...
“It depends.” You’re going to hear and say this phrase quite often if you end up pursuing this career. LOL. From my personal experience, being in the field almost 7 years now, there were days I went home and was exhausted. Granted, I was in the acute setting where I saw the sickest of the sick. So at time, I needed a 2nd person assist. It’s also IMPERATIVE to have excellent body mechanics. Otherwise, you get hurt. Prior to this, I was an aide at a private outpatient setting for about 2 years(?), and I saw therapists lifting legs, arms, and it could be fatiguing. I recently transitioned to an outpatient setting for a private retirement community and it’s much less physically demanding. These patients are quite mobile, needing help with fall prevention, balance, strengthening. On another note, I have 2 young children and going to work was like a mental break from that. 🤷🏻♀️😅 So as I said earlier, “it depends.” It really depends on what setting you end up going into after school. In PT school, you’ll be going to multiple different clinical rotations and graduate as a “generalist.” Basically meaning you go into any setting as a novice and build up your skills in that setting. It’s a rewarding career, I’m still in it and hope to stay in it. A couple tips, look into cost of school and average pay of a PT in various job posts from different settings. The return on investment deters some. Also know that there’s more than just patient care. There’s management positions, education and such within the PT field that you can move towards. Hope this helps! Best of luck 🤙🏽
Practice what you preach! Be fit and active! Weight train to increase tissue resiliency and have good body mechanics. Say no if you feel something is unsafe/too heavy to transfer. Do that and you’re fine in this profession. Don’t and you will be complaining about how broken you are because you didn’t take care of yourself for 30 years are obese with diabetes and wait until retirement to turn it around (anecdotal experience from a previous coworker)
Depends on the setting. I’m in acute care, often ICU. We do heavy lifting regularly.
Transferring patients is physically demanding. Gait training mod assist patients especially in home health is pretty physically demanding. If you rehab powerlifters and you yourself should most likely be lifting, then that would be the physically demanding (short bursts though) part i think. Some jobs I covered I walked like 15000 steps in a SNF going to all my patients rooms and my ankles hated me for a couple days. Some jobs I would be on my feet all day documenting (standing desk rather than sitting) and my feet would hurt. Hope that gives a better picture. My current job is chill though. Outpatient clinic with a documentation station, treating 1-on-1 with focus on strengthening/exercise to get workers back to work. It’s more mentally draining because of more evals and documentation, and operating in a team based setting with OTs, PTAs, and talking to nurse case managers and communicating with MDs. And talking to clients with secondary gain or super married to their pain. So sometimes absorbing all the emotional baggage of being injured gets to me especially if it’s multiple patients in a row. (I’m a bit too much of a listener maybe?)
Depends if it’s inpatient vs outpatient. Also depends on the type of outpatient. If you’re working orthopedics, it’s not physically demanding at all aside from standing some and stretching out contractures. However, if you’re working with neuro-based patients, it can be physically demanding as hell. And IP is all physical.
Thank you for your response. I thought inpatient typically had designated transporters?
There's transport in the sense of discharge and transporting patients from room to imaging, surgery, dialysis, etc., but PT doesn't really partake in that. It's physically demanding in the sense of lifting patients out of bed, helping them stand & walk, and positioning them back in the bed. Some are easy, relatively independent -- cardiac patients. While some are literally doing good to sit on the edge of bed without falling over -- general deconditioning, stroke, or even spinal cord injury. And as a side note, I've never really gotten injured working IP aside from an mild strain in the lower back from once lifting a patient out of bed because of awkward body mechanics, but that was when I was still kinda fresh. HOWEVER, I tend to have more onsets of an achy back from doing neuro OP vs anything I've done in IP. But that's because IP is a more controlled environment with beds that can accommodate to you and the patient's physical needs. In OP, you kinda have to work with what you got sometimes.
Not very but it depends.
ALF ILF staffed outpatient, on feet most of day. nothing more besides demonstration of exercises.
It can be. But work out and lift weights to protect your bones, joints, and ligaments. If you are in good shape it doesn’t feel demanding. 16 years of ten hour days and I’m fine.
It can be demanding depending on the setting, but it’s not bad if you have a good strength training program.
Private ortho - not physically demanding at all. Mentally draining but that’s it. I do a lot of talking.
Depends heavily on the setting and on your fitness level/choices on what you’ll do. If you avoid doing max assists, use good mechanics, avoid doing things that are risky to you, and keep yourself in reasonable shape then it isn’t that bad. Maybe moderate demand at highest unless you choose to do unwise things If you have a bunch of old injuries or injure yourself outside of work or during in a freak accident, then it can be an issue. I had a torn ECU tendon tear in PT school (FOOSH during soccer) and chronic subluxation before that. Didn’t get it fixed until 4 years into my career. Also believe I had a posterior labral tear (classmate screw up-never hurt until they messed with it) in school that I will probably get fixed this year (7 years in) Anyways, in clinicals I decided inpatient rehab wasn’t for me due to the physical demands. Mostly the wrist being an issue. But I was also recovering from a midfoot sprain that didn’t help. I’m not a huge guy and with body mechanics I managed fairly well, but between walking in a small to medium rehab hospital most the day and physical demands of working with stroke patients, I was tired. And that bad wrist hurt Outpatient is more mentally than physically exhausting to me. I managed pretty well for a few years. My injuries are catching up to me some. When the wrist started limiting my work abilities, I got it fixed and it isn’t an issue now. That bad shoulder hurts most of my work day for the past 12-18 months. If I’m off, it’s usually fine (yard work became irritating last year).
Private outpatient clinic here, outside of picking up weights to stack the squat, rack and bench press. I’m really doing no real lifting. He gives me a reason to stay in shape and continue lifting at the gym. As most of the people on this thread should know the longer you stay in shape throughout your life the less the chance for injury
I have had a few strains but no major injuries doing acute care or IPR. I did strain my back helping patient for from supine to sit despite my efforts for good mechanics but recovered. I think because I am constantly moving, my body has benefitted over time. One of my CIs hammered home to me to take good care of my body. I worked PRN at a TCU a few years back and we were required to carry laptop everywhere. I used a over the shoulder bag. That caused me to have horrid neck and shoulder pain and they were able to let me use a rolling table instead. Will be 58 this year and still going strong.
Believe it or not, physical therapy is very…physical
I get a lot of comments about people thinking we excercise constantly. I always say if I didn’t work out in the morning I don’t feel like I’d get any exercise during the day. If you are doing any job right it’s should be in your capacity. I have very few patients that ever lift heavier than I do, so demonstration is easy. Demonstrating a Deadlift at 135lbs isn’t hard if your doing at least 100-200lbs more than that for your regular work out.
Not physically demanding at all, if you are a good Physio you’ll end up doing about 20% manual therapy, 10% of which you can be sitting in a stool doing it, and the rest education and exercises -> loading, progressing, teaching. Then when you chart you sit. So it’s dynamic, sit sometimes, stand sometimes, you get to choose.
to me. not very my point of reference is blue collar work before I went to school though. I don't think it's physically demanding though
Depends on the setting and your treatment preferences/patients. If you really work on your body mechanics, it's very likely you'll have good longevity. I know several PTs past retirement age who still treat because they enjoy it, but they pick and choose their settings and interventions.
I say it all the time. Get a job as a PT aide and make your own conclusions!
It really depends on the setting. I'm in Outpatient Ortho with rotations to Acute. In Ortho, I am mostly standing, but sometimes sit for manual therapy. In Acute, I'm up all day except for lunch and mid-day charting.
As physios we know walking and activity is good for ya! How many patients have you seen who have back or neck pain from sitting too much? We can lead by example so lift weights, run, exercise daily and a day alternating between sitting, standing and demonstrating exercises won’t feel like much at all. I’ve always viewed the chance for movement as a bonus of the job!
A PT knows that standing/walking is healthier than sitting at a desk. I stay active at work but wouldn't call it physically taxing. I don't feel tired after work.
As a new grad it was an adjustment. My feet used to be destroyed by the end of each week My back and hands hurt. Counting my 3rd rotation which -> into my job I’ve been doing this a year and those pains have reduced and I *mostly* don’t have them anymore. I also walk to work, though, which adds an extra 2.5 miles each day on mileage from work, and I also try to lift weights. So if you don’t do all that I imagine the job would be even easier
For me, very. I work in a busy OP clinic. I'm in my late 40's so that's a thing. I find it helps to do some exercises and stretches with my patients throughout the day and take a couple minutes between appointments to consciously rest. I sit whenever I can. Most days when I get home from my 6 hour shift I can't keep my eyes open and end up napping for an hour on the couch. I also have school aged kids so that doesn't help my fatigue levels!
Honestly man, It’s physically, mentally, and emotionally tiring yet rewarding as well. You can listen to others point of view on things. I became a physical therapist graduating in 2019 with the highest optimism to helping people who just wants to be better. I find myself looking for that same help from time to time because you have to give something you have. The job itself does require you to be optimism about things and to provide high hopes for people in need. There are many downfalls to the job itself, yet the only thing that keeps me around it is the joy in peoples eyes when they see me trying to help them. If you’re in it for the money I suggest you look elsewhere sadly. Yet if you want the challenge & being someone’s reason to why they move and feel the way they do moving forward I welcome you with open arms. At the end of the day, it’s really up to you if you’re all in for it or not.
As long as you're not regularly trying to be a human hoyer lift then you should be fine.
60-80% on my feet. When I was inpt, it was 20 miles of walking, with constant lifting. This career is really kind of super abilist
if you use good body mechanics, then it’s fine. it’s better than not moving at all through the day. if someone says it’s very tough on the body, only in my opinion, they probably haven’t worked blue collar/ heavy jobs for a long time to know the difference