Physiotherapy community has three names: physiotherapy, physical therapy, and kinesiotherapy. Physiotherapy deals with human bodies to maximize human potential and proper function of body movements. Physical therapists work worldwide in various health settings. The main goal of a physiotherapist or PT’s is to increase the range of motion of different parts of the human body. I guess that was a quick basic introduction now I want to talk about my personal experience. I have done a diploma in Occupational Therapist Assistant (OTA) from Canada. I have nearly 2 years of experience in clinical settings. What I realized is an important aspect of profession. It is all the PT’s or assistants required to maintain therapeutical relationship with all your clients and patients which include patient care and also include physical contact in order to demonstrate the exercise therapy, during bed transfers, compassion, empathy, massage, cupping therapy and you must have good communication skills. You should not feel shy to help out your clients as a part of therapy.

QUALIFICATION CRITERIA

To become physiotherapist is not as easy as it seems to be. In India, you should have done your grade 12 in medical science and minimum 50% are needed to get admission in a medical college. In most of the hospital settings and clinics, they prefer BPT graduates for this field. If you are not that student who has not done 12 grade in medical but you want to pursue this profession here is an option for you! You can get admission in DPT which is a diploma in physical therapy and you can get access to BPT further which is of 4.5 years. Depending upon your interest there are various branches of Master in physiotherapy which is of 2 years. The following MPT’’s are:

• Cardio-pulmonary science
• Community Physiotherapy
• Neuroscience
• Orthopaedics
• Paediatrics and Women’s Health

Now coming to the very important question i.e. what PT’s do and how they treat patients? Well, they work with a number of system of human bodies like NEUROMUSCULAR which include brain and nervous system, MUSCULOSKELETAL which deal with soft tissues, joint and bones and CARDIOVASCULAR also including the RESPIRATORY system. Almost all of our body needs a specialised therapy from a trained PT. PT’s use various methods for the treatment, few of them are exercise, massage, TENS, electrotherapy, stretching, medication etc. A Trained PT professional is equipped with multiple expertise to treat different kinds of conditions. It is noteworthy to mention that the practice of skills and learning starts during the degree years itself. Like the MBBS, MD and B. Sc. Nursing students, Physiotherapy students are also deputed in the hospital to assist doctors and provide expert-guided treatment as well.

SCOPE

There are numerous places where a PT can find a job. Some of them are:

• Community Health Centres
• Mental Health Centres
• Nursing Home/Private Care Centres
• Rehabilitation Centres
• Sports Clinics
• Fitness Centres
• Government Hospitals
• The Institute of Physically Handicapped
• Own Clinics
• Awareness and Counselling Professional
• Author of Health/Awareness Materials with NGOs or Publishers
• Physio with Sports Teams and Schools/Colleges/Universities

Depending on the qualification and the experience you have the pay scale varies. In India, hospital employed physiotherapist may earn from Rs. 74,190 to Rs. 6, 02,002 annually according to the position one has. Your own clinical setting is an exception. In your own clinic, you can earn Rs. 2000 per day to even more. I have given a basic outline of the pay scale in India and in addition to that let us talk about other countries. In Canada and most of the other countries like USA, Australia or New Zealand you have to register yourself first after you become a registered physiotherapist you can get up to 45 dollars to 80 dollars per hour and after calculating that into Indian rupee it becomes 2000 rupee to 5000 rupees per hour. What else you are looking for? In a nutshell, I will say that if you are someone who wants to help people and have the courage to serve society, physiotherapy is a great option. Also, only physical therapy is a profession after MBBS in India which outshines your name with prefix Dr in short period of time. In the end, I want to say, “Don’t forget you are handling human.”

Author Details:

Yogita Jain Student, MM Institute of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation