A Look at the Job of Physical Therapy Assistant

It goes almost without saying that all physical therapists need assistance in their practice. It does not matter what the physical therapists may have specialized in. They all need physical therapy assistants in their practice and that is just that. In order to become a physical therapy assistant you must complete a two-year physical therapy assistant program and be certified. Their work entails such things as helping physical therapists to provide therapeutic treatment that improves patient mobility, lessen the physical abilities of patients and of course relieves pain. As a physical therapy assistant, you may be asked by your physical therapist master or doctor to assist a patient to exercise or learn how to use crutches or in some cases to gather and prepare equipment that will be needed for therapy. When you complete a physical therapy assistant program you will graduate with a large amount of tools in your arsenal. As such you will be able to treat patients who are accident victims, to diseases such as stroke and cerebral palsy.

All physical therapy assistants normally work under the direction and supervision of physical therapists. Their work is extensive as it involves providing exercise, instruction, therapeutic methods like ultrasound, mechanical traction, electrical stimulation, gait, balance training and massage. From these activities and therapeutic procedures, a physical therapist has to record the responses of the patient to treatment and report the outcome of each and every treatment to the physical therapist he or she may be under.

The physical therapist designs a program for a patient after an initial evaluation. You as the assistant will be working with the patient doing the tasks laid out in the program. Without the assistant physical therapists, much cannot be achieved as it would be hard for the physical therapist to know with certainty how his or her patient is responding to treatment. The success or failure of the program will of course depend on your skill as an assistant to correctly apply the treatments laid out.

Assistant physical therapists are usually responsible for keeping the treatment areas organized and clean. They must make adequate preparation for therapies and must also help the patient to get ready for the entire session. Patience is therefore a virtue that each assistant physical therapist must have as once in a while it is possible to come across a patient who is not so willing to go through a therapy session.
A physical therapy assistant and a physical therapy aide are two entirely different jobs. The latter is mainly concerned with clerical tasks like answering the phone, ordering depleted supplies, filling out insurance forms and nearly all the paperwork procedures. Aides also help patients who may need assistance to move from one place to another. It is therefore clear that an aide cannot perform the clinical tasks of a physical therapy assistant as he or she is not licensed to carry out any physical therapy assistant tasks.


Physical therapy assistants need moderate degrees of will, personality and strength. As you can imagine a certain amount of physical strength is needed when performing various tasks and treatments in a physical therapy program. You may be required to lift someone as part of the therapy. He or he or she may also have to kneel, stoop, bend or stand or long periods.