About This Career

Assesses, plans, organizes, and participates in rehabilitative programs that improve mobility, relieve pain, increase strength, and improve or correct disabling conditions resulting from disease or injury.

This career is part of the Health Science cluster Therapeutic Services pathway.

A person in this career:

• Plans, prepares, or carries out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients.
• Performs and documents an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.
• Records prognosis, treatment, response, and progress in patient's chart or enter information into computer.
• Instructs patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.
• Confers with the patient, medical practitioners, or appropriate others to plan, implement, or assess the intervention program.
• Evaluates effects of treatment at various stages and adjusts treatments to achieve maximum benefit.
• Administers manual exercises, massage, or traction to help relieve pain, increase patient strength, or decrease or prevent deformity or crippling.
• Obtains patients' informed consent to proposed interventions.
• Tests and measures patient's strength, motor development and function, sensory perception, functional capacity, or respiratory or circulatory efficiency and record data.
• Directs, supervises, assesses, and communicates with supportive personnel.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
• Exposed to disease and infections more than once a month through work such as patient care, laboratory work, and sanitation control
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Seeing clearly at a distance
• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
• Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying objects
• Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring

Work Hours and Travel

• Weekend work