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physics

Physical therapy

Physical therapy is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Physical therapy rather than just read about it. In short: Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists. It focuses on promoting, maintaining, or restoring health through patient education, physical interventions, disease prevention, and health promotion.

Physical therapy — main illustration
Physical therapy — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Physical therapy belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Physical therapy to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Physical therapy from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists. It focuses on promoting, maintaining, or restoring health through patient education, physical interventions, disease prevention, and health promotion. The term physical therapist or physiotherapist is used to represent the trained person providing physical therapy. The profession has many specialties including musculoskeletal, orthopedics, cardiopulmonary, neurology, endocrinology, sports medicine, geriatrics, pediatrics, women's health, wound care and electromyography. PTs practice in many settings, both public and private. In addition to clinical practice, other aspects of physical therapy include research, education, consultation, and health administration. Physical therapists provide primary care patient management in conjunction with other medical services. In some jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, physical therapists may have the authority to prescribe medication.

Overview Physical therapy addresses illnesses or injuries that limit a person's ability to move and perform functional activities in their daily lives. PTs use an individual's history and physical examination to arrive at a diagnosis and establish a management plan and, when necessary, incorporate the results of laboratory and imaging studies like X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs. Physical therapists can use sonography to diagnose and manage common musculoskeletal, nerve, and pulmonary conditions. Electrodiagnostic testing (e.g., electromyograms and nerve conduction velocity testing) may also be used. PT management commonly includes the prescription of, or assistance with, specific exercises, manual therapy, and bodily manipulation. Additional treatments include mechanical devices such as traction; education; electrophysical modalities which include heat, cold, electricity, sound waves, and radiation; assistive devices; prostheses; and orthoses. In addition, PTs work with individuals to prevent the loss of mobility before it occurs by developing fitness and wellness-oriented programs for healthier and more active lifestyles, and providing services to individuals and populations to develop, maintain, and restore maximum movement and functional ability throughout life. This includes providing treatment in circumstances where movement and function are threatened by aging, injury, disease, or environmental factors. Functional movement is central to what it means to be healthy. Physical therapy is a profession which has many specialties including musculoskeletal, orthopedics, cardiopulmonary, neurology, endocrinology, sports medicine, geriatrics, pediatrics, women's health, wound care and electromyography. PTs practice in many settings, such as privately owned physical therapy clinics, outpatient clinics or offices, hospitals, health and wellness clinics, rehabilitation hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, extended care facilities, private homes, education and research centers, schools, hospices, industrial workplaces or other occupational environments, fitness centers and sports training facilities. Physical therapists also practice in non-patient care roles such as health policy, health insurance, health care administration, and as health care executives. Physical therapists are involved in the medical-legal field serving as experts, performing peer review and independent medical examinations. Education varies greatly by country. The span of education ranges from some countries having little formal education to others having doctoral degrees and post-doctoral residencies and fellowships. Regarding its relationship to other healthcare professions, physiotherapy is typically one of the allied health professions. World Physiotherapy has signed a "memorandum of understanding" with the four other members of the World Health Professions Alliance "to enhance their joint collaboration on protecting and investing in the health workforce to provide safe, quality and equitable care in all settings".

History

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Physical therapy illustration
Physical therapy: Exercising the shoulder and elbow to increase motion following the fracture and dislocation of the humerus is being given by an Army therapist to a soldier patient.
Exercising the shoulder and elbow to increase motion following the fracture and dislocation of the humerus is being given by an Army therapist to a soldier patient.
Physical therapy: Treatment by an orthopedic physical therapist
Treatment by an orthopedic physical therapist

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Physical therapy

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Physical therapy claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Physical therapy before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Physical therapy ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Physical therapy

In research
Physical therapy appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Physical therapy in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Physical therapy is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Allied health professions, Hospital departments, Manual therapy, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Physical therapy outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Physical therapy in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Physical therapy means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Physical therapy out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Physical therapy in simple terms?

Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists. It focuses on promoting, maintaining, or restoring health through patient education, physical interventions, disease prevention, and health promotion.

Why does Physical therapy matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Physical therapy?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Physical therapy.

Tags

  • Allied health professions
  • Hospital departments
  • Manual therapy
  • Physical exercise
  • Physical therapy
  • Rehabilitation medicine
  • Rehabilitation team
  • Sports medicine
  • Sports occupations and roles

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