Prose and Essays

7 Reasons Why Become a Physical Therapist

0817, Sunday, 18:54

7 Reasons Why Become a Physical Therapist
By LMFF

I just came from a seminar that led me to the road in completing the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Course in Educational and Clinical Utilization of Clinical Reasoning Tools (HOAC II & ICF-RPS) at WVSU Medical Center, Iloilo City. The seminar was such an eye opener for a practicing direct access Physical Therapist (PT) like me. I learned a lot and my vigor for my first profession was empowered greatly.

I may be new in this field as I only graduated last March 2015, passed the PT Licensure Examination in the Philippines last February 7-8, 2016 and gave home care services by June 2017, but, I can fairly say that I am made for this profession.

Each PT Professionals may have varied reasons why they chose the road of physical therapy but I can give you 7 reasons why I studied for five (six) years and reviewed for one year to become a #proudpinoyPT.

1. I don't want to follow the norm.
Let's face it. Physical therapy practice is not well known in the Philippines. Many are still unaware of what we truly do. They would often link us with the massage therapists who only studied for less than 6 months to get their license or the chiropractors who spent a few more months to become professionals. They just didn't know how laborious it is to become a PT.

And I want that. I want to travel the road less travelled. I want to subdue the wrong mentality. It was a boom of enrollment in nursing during my time but I chose to be a PT student because I want to veer away from the norm. I did and I couldn't be happier.

2. I want the challenge.
To be honest, when I enrolled in physical therapy, I thought it was easier than the other courses in the school that I went to because my schoomate in highschool who is not so intellectual excelling can do it. So, I asked the question of why can't I if she can.

All I wanted that time is a pre-med course that is most beneficial. What I was not prepared for is the challenge it gave me. But being a risk taker that I am, I took the challenge. Shameful that I even had to extend a year in my schooling but the challenge physical therapy gave me is a prized experience no amount could replace.

3. I can chew anatomy and physiology in medical school.
As I have stated in Reason #2, I wanted to enroll in a pre-med course that is most beneficial and that is exactly what physical therapy can bring you. I am not in medical school yet but those PT who are taking the road to be a doctor that I have interviewed can testify that the first few years in their proper med is easier because they are well-versed in the structure and function of the human body.

In physical therapy, we are given extra units in anatomy and physiology that in my second year, I already witnessed a cadaver dissection and performed one when I was on my third year. It was a very memorable event for me because I got to remove the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, gall bladder and basically the entire urinary and digestive system of the cadaver that we named Clint.

4. I took one of the Top 5 hardest board exam in the Philippines.
Isn't it an honor to know that you passed one of the hardest board exams in the country? If it's a negative notion to you, well, to me it's a privilege.

I once had my professor asked me of what is better--be the smartest among level 3 individuals or be the level 3 among the smartest people? I did not understand the question at first but when the meaning sunk, I had a genuine smile painted in my face and answered the latter option. Surely, there is a greater feeling that you are among the levelled up.

5. I spend the most time with the patient.
It was ingraved to me by my college professors that among the healthcare professionals, PTs are most blessed because we spend the most time with the patient. Doctors only got to check the patient and go; nurses care for the patient's needs that barely reaches an hour then go; but, physical therapists have to spend a full hour or even beyond it in performing the PT intervention and treatment with the patient. Imagine the time we immerse ourselves with the recipient of our care, isn't it wonderful?

6. I am a critical thinker and can prescribe treatment not just meds.
It is considered that physical therapists are the masters of exercise. We use exercises to our advantage and prescribe them to our patients to be included in their plan of care. Yes, we have other treatment modalities and techniques and gladly not limited to medicines alone.

Physical therapy practice is upgrading and in the seminar that I just attended, it was said that DPTs can now prescribe medicines. But still, isn't it amazing that even without meds your pain can go away? Or that you can be okay?

7. I give back life, not just keep people alive.
This is one of the impressions the seminar gave me. We exist and PT interventions are given not just to keep our patients alive but mainly to give them back their life. We restore them to their maximum potential. We enable them to live as normal as they once had. We re-lit the smiles they had before.

As a private, direct access practicing PT, I already had a fair share of joyous tears where my patients almost kissed my feet because they were able to walk again after months of only lying down. The joy is irreplaceable once you see them living life, not merely surviving. Nothing can ever pay the fulfillment to be the one to bring them that.

These are just seven of the many reasons why one should choose to be a PT professional. I only weave them together from the top end of my cerebral cortex. My neural circuits were not even challenged to form them. Surely then, there are a lot more and countless reasons why PT is one of the best profession.

Care to share one?

19:55, Sunday, 100817

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