Physical Therapy: Practice, Specialties, Professional Development, and Telehealth

All flashcards

What is physical therapy?

A healthcare profession and form of care that promotes, maintains, or restores health through education, physical interventions, disease prevention, and health promotion.

What is functional movement?

Movement that enables a person to carry out meaningful everyday activities, such as walking, reaching, working, or self-care. Supporting it is central to physical therapy.

What is the usual starting point for a PT assessment?

The therapist gathers the person’s health history and conducts a physical examination, then uses the findings to guide diagnosis and management planning.

Name three possible physical therapy interventions.

Examples include specific exercises, manual therapy, education, traction, heat or cold, electrical modalities, assistive devices, prostheses, and orthoses.

Where may physical therapists work?

They work in settings such as clinics, hospitals, rehabilitation and long-term-care facilities, homes, schools, workplaces, fitness centers, and sports facilities, as well as in non-patient-care roles.

Quiz questions

1. What is a central functional focus of physical therapy?Answer: Promoting, maintaining, or restoring movement and the ability to perform functional activities.
2. What information commonly helps a physical therapist form an initial management plan?Answer: The person’s health history and findings from a physical examination.
3. What is an important consideration when deciding whether telehealth is suitable?Answer: Whether the person’s condition can be managed safely remotely with therapist oversight.
4. What does shared decision-making involve in physical therapy?Answer: The patient and clinician discuss options and make care decisions together, considering the patient’s goals.
5. Which specialty focuses on people with heart or lung disorders and related functional goals?Answer: Cardiovascular and pulmonary physical therapy.