Why I want to be a Physical Therapist

Why I want to be a Physical Therapist

I can honestly say that my journey toward this career path has been interesting. The adventure began when I was fourteen. I managed to injure my shoulder playing tennis and was prescribed physical therapy by one of the local orthopedic specialists. I had never heard of physical therapy. I did know that "crazy" people went to therapy, so was a little apprehensive on my first visit. I visited an outpatient clinic that was associated with a hospital, but was surprised to find that the environment wasn't anything like the sterile white hospital across the street-- no chemical smell, no groans of pain, no hustling nurses, mostly people moving, or trying to at least. When I met my therapist I was further intrigued; she wasn't wearing a white coat or loafers, but athletic attire. I was beginning to like this place. Then came the barrage of tests. That I didn’t like too much. I was quite surprised at how many ways the therapist could make my injury hurt and continue to ask silly questions like, "Does that hurt?" Over the next few weeks, I went to therapy a few times a week and slowly the pain began to subside and I became stronger. At one point, I remember my dad asking me if I thought I might like to be a physical therapist some day. I considered it and thought that I could enjoy writing down a few notes and being bossy all day long. How hard could that be? And so, I had a parent-approved answer to the never ending stream of "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Eventually, I got to a point where the therapist felt I could continue the exercises at home by myself and did not need to come to the clinic anymore. I was distraught and even faked pain to get to stay in therapy longer. Of course, I couldn't fool the therapist!

Time went by I began to make my rounds observing physical therapists at work, because that's what Daddy told me I needed to do to go to PT school. (In order to apply to physical therapy school, one must watch PTs work for a certain number of prescribed hours.) The first therapist that allowed me to totter along in her shadow amazes me now that I look back. I don't recall what her specialty was, but she worked is several fields. She worked in an open setting with eight to ten other therapists, so I got to look over the other therapists' shoulders as well. Never was there such a large body of free flowing knowledge! I was exposed to so many different areas of physical therapy during my time at that facility. I felt like I could jump from one area to another for years and never see everything! I could handle that-- having a seemingly endless array of options to choose from within one's field.

Not long after my first stint at that particular setting, I got into my major classes at university. There I realized that I really do have a passion for people and their health and fitness. I had cared about fitness early on in life not by my own design, but due to the urging of my dad. Tennis, to him, was life... for me anyway. He was quite sure that I was going to be a tennis super star and go to some huge school on full scholarship. Well, that didn't happen, but somewhere in all those years on the court, a love of fitness and wellness was instilled within me and now I have a desire to light little fitness fires in everyone I meet. I'd like to set the world ablaze!

Tennis did play another role in my journey though. I may not have gotten a scholarship, or played the best players in the world, but I have watched many players. In all the watching I've done, rarely did I see someone playing a game, but rather a body in motion. There on the tennis court I found beauty in the human form in motion-- a fluid grace. Then someone would get injured and that grace would be stunted. What a loss, the injury of beauty.

During one summer I took a part time desk job at a local tennis shop. The job got exciting every thirty minutes when a flood of the teaching pro's lessons would swarm the pro shop paying for lessons, purchasing grips or strings, or whatever tennis paraphernalia they desired. The job was menial and did not involve using one's brain in the slightest. There I learned that I would never hold a job in which I didn't use my brain on a daily basis to solve problems and be satisfied with myself. I craved a daily challenge.

Prior to a Pre- PT Club meeting last year, I was dawdling on the front porch of the university's physical therapy school. There in the window was a little sticker from the American Physical Therapy Association, whose motto read "The art of caring, the science of healing" There. I had it. I was in the right place for sure. I've always cared for anything that will allow me to care for it. That's why I have four pets and have a passion for gardening. I like to care for things and that extends to people as well. I love to volunteer for service work. Seeing as how I have no medical certifications at the moment, doing volunteer work is the only outlet I have found to care for people. I have always loved science, even from an early age. When I was a kid I read everything I could get my hands on; however, I doubt I read anything fiction until I was forced to for a class in middle school. I devoured books filled with scientific facts and spent hours quietly gleaning knowledge from whatever came my direction. But to heal! What a magnificent gift! I am at a loss of words in awe of the ability to heal one's own species' maladies. I would give anything to blend those two loves of my life-- caring and healing.

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place for me this past summer. At my last observation round, I was lucky enough to work alongside a therapist who also is a professor at the PT school. I don't recall exactly what the conversation was or what he said, but the meat of the line was this: physical therapists use their knowledge of human anatomy and physiology to puzzle out what is going on with their patients and how to use the patients' body to fix the problem. Bingo. Anatomy and physiology are my favorite subjects of all the sciences. The human body fascinates me to no end. God our bodies to perform certain functions and given the lack of disease, do so perfectly. And there is where my faith gets tied into my chosen career.

These reasons really only scratch the surface. There are dozens of other smaller reasons why I'd like to be a PT, but these are the most significant in my eye.

So you see I've found my dream job. Now the question is, can I convince my superiors that I am worthy of training to become their colleague? Say a prayer for me!