Considering Physical Therapy - Question(s)

[Nope 99]

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I'm considering pursuing a career in physical therapy, after much thought, but I don't quite have the information I want. One thing that I'd love to do is work primarily with athletes. Now, my general idea now is that the majority of client-base for PTs comes from geriatrics, older patients, and the general population recovering from surgery or injuries of some sort.

Ideally, I'd love to do something like work for a sports team of sorts, or an organization like that. In particular, I'm a huge gymnastics fan (been doing it myself for years, so I know a bit about the injuries and what's involved), and being in that atmosphere, or associated with it, while helping people in a lucrative and rewarding career would be a DREAM!

So my question is - how far off is that dream? Is something like that uncommon? To have a client-base primarily composed of athletes and such? Is it too hard to pick and choose like that?

 

[johncronejr]

From what I am hearing, planning on a "sports only" PT practice is a folly. So many of the Pre-PT students I know want to "work with athletes". That is what I initially planned. After looking, I find that there are so very few PT clinics that specialize in sports rehab. After doing the math (So many people wanting to do it + So few specialty sports clinics = Just not many spots available). That's not saying that you can't make that your specialty, but I wouldn't plan on it being a LUCRATIVE business if that is the only patients you see.

You might consider actually becoming a Sports Medicine M.D. You could then develop a lucrative practice or perhaps serve as a team physician for a pro or college team/s.

 

[DancerFutureDPT]

Some PT places specialize in sports medicine, in that they serve a lot of athletes and may work with sports teams/dance companies/high school athletes/etc....but they are never exclusive. I worked at a clinic like that, and on any given day, a PT might have 15 patient - 5 athletes, 5 medicare, a pediatric patient, and two random post-ops. You can't really discriminate your patients and say you'll only work with athletes. And in school, you'll be required to do a variety of clinicals, and they'll make you do some in an inpatient setting, acute, outpatient, etc...you won't be able to only work with athletes while you're in school.

Have you thought about Athletic Training? That might be more what you're looking for....you wouldn't necessarily see patients long-term/provide their rehab, but you'd be there at the sporting events so if anyone gets injured there, you'd be one of the first responders, you may occasionally treat patients if you work for a school, or help out with their PT in aide-like work.

 

[Nope 99]

That's pretty much what I had expected - that there wouldn't be many places (if any) where that type of thing would be exclusive.

I considered sports medicine, and may still pursue that instead. I'm not positive which road I'm going to take now. I'm in the process of finishing up my undergrad with two degrees (neuroscience/physiology and applied math/statistics) and I've pretty much got a whole slew of options.

I wouldn't discriminate and only work with athletes, it's just what I would like to do, ideally. It would be most interesting and fulfilling to me. Obviously in school I'd expect to run the gamut, and that wouldn't be an issue, I was speaking of where I'd like to end up.

I haven't really considered athletic training - I want to do something related to health care, and the sciences are a huge passion of mine, so I want my education to be of use.

 

[atstudent]

I haven't really considered athletic training - I want to do something related to health care, and the sciences are a huge passion of mine, so I want my education to be of use.

UMM... Athletic Training IS health care. Athletic Trainers are on the front-lines with athletes on the field, in the gym, etc. In fact, last year I spent all of the fall semester and parts of the spring semester working with our women's gymnastics team. If you want to work with athletes in a health care role, athletic training is THE profession to be in. There is no other profession that has the intimate connection to the athletes like athletic training.

I am getting ready to finish my undergrad degree in athletic training. I love it!

 

[Nope 99]

UMM... Athletic Training IS health care. Athletic Trainers are on the front-lines with athletes on the field, in the gym, etc. In fact, last year I spent all of the fall semester and parts of the spring semester working with our women's gymnastics team. If you want to work with athletes in a health care role, athletic training is THE profession to be in. There is no other profession that has the intimate connection to the athletes like athletic training.

I am getting ready to finish my undergrad degree in athletic training. I love it!

Ah, I apologize, I was thinking personal trainer when I saw "athletic trainer," but after Googling and heading to www.nata.org it seems athletic training is an entirely different field that I, apparently, have been entirely unaware of.

This actually doesn't sound too bad - I'm going to have to dig into it more. I'm still hoping to make a nice living, that does factor in to any career I'm going to pursue - can you give me some basics of athletic training stuff? Is travel involved? What's employment like? Is there graduate schooling needed? What's the average salary for entry and after some time?

I'm going to do my own looking around, but I figure if you can throw some answers at me, that couldn't hurt. 😀

 

[atstudent]

I have tried to answer some of your questions in bold..

This actually doesn't sound too bad - I'm going to have to dig into it more. I'm still hoping to make a nice living, that does factor in to any career I'm going to pursue - can you give me some basics of athletic training stuff? Athletic Training works with athletes around the clock. I personally see Physical Therapy as more of a "reactive" profession in that people don't go there until there is an injury. An Athletic Trainer is with the team on a daily basis ideally. We are involved in prevention, acute assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation of orthopedic injuries. Also, we have a (light) background in general medical conditions. We are educated and trained to manage emergency situations on the field. Also, there is of course the administrative stuff that goes along with it as well. With a college or professional sports team especially, athletic trainers are THE gateway to health care for the athletes.Is travel involved? That depends on the setting you work in. At the college level, travel is likely part of the job. Especially at the Division One level I would say you can expect to do some traveling. In professional sports, I would say almost certainly travel will be involved. At the high school or clinical setting, much less.What's employment like? Not sure you what you mean..Is there graduate schooling needed? Over 70% of Athletic Trainers have an advanced degree. That doesn't mean it's required, but many employers are wanting a Masters degree now. BUT there are Entry-Level Masters Degree programs where you can become a Certified Athletic Trainer through their program. That sounds like it may work for you since you are almost finished with undergrad. What's the average salary for entry and after some time?

I'm going to do my own looking around, but I figure if you can throw some answers at me, that couldn't hurt. 😀

I don't really know what average salaries are. That information is online, but it's just going to depend on the setting. Athletic Training was recently rated as one of the most poorly-paid professions. Athletic Training in many settings consists of a lot of hours, but if you're passionate about it those hours fly by! For many Athletic Trainers at the college or professional level, working 70-90 hours a week is pretty normal for many of them. For example, I know my clinical instructor worked 13 hours yesterday and that was supposed to be a "light" day for the team..

 

[Nope 99]

I have tried to answer some of your questions in bold..

I don't really know what average salaries are. That information is online, but it's just going to depend on the setting. Athletic Training was recently rated as one of the most poorly-paid professions. Athletic Training in many settings consists of a lot of hours, but if you're passionate about it those hours fly by! For many Athletic Trainers at the college or professional level, working 70-90 hours a week is pretty normal for many of them. For example, I know my clinical instructor worked 13 hours yesterday and that was supposed to be a "light" day for the team..

Thank you for the time you took to reply, it's very appreciated.

 

[dizzy88]

It's pretty rare to find an OP ortho clinic strictly devoted to treating athletes, but I'm sure you can find plenty of opportunities to work with that population in other clinics too. Just mixed in with other populations.

AT is an awesome way to go. However, the AT students joined our anatomy class this summer and I've heard from several of them that job availability is pretty poor. And as someone mentioned above, severely under paid (but, so are PT's). With PT, if you can't find what you're looking for right away...at least the degree allows you to get a job elsewhere (hospitals, SNF'S, home health).

There are definitely ways to gear your internships in school towards treating athletes. That way you can make some connections, get to know people in the field, get your name out there when graduation rolls around. In our program, you can do optional part time internships throughout the year, so people who are really interested in something (or people who want to explore different fields) can get the most experience they can.

 

[atstudent]

AT is an awesome way to go. However, the AT students joined our anatomy class this summer and I've heard from several of them that job availability is pretty poor. And as someone mentioned above, severely under paid (but, so are PT's). With PT, if you can't find what you're looking for right away...at least the degree allows you to get a job elsewhere (hospitals, SNF'S, home health).

Then they're being pretty picky. There's new postings almost everyday on the NATA Career Center for jobs not only in athletics, but in industrial settings as well. And there's many jobs not posted on there as well. I actually just received an email yesterday about two jobs in Alabama that are trying to be filled ASAP.

 

[Eforma]

Oftentimes with AT it's not that job availability itself is poor, it's that starting salaries are poor. AT's have highly variable starting salary. You could come out of college making 15-20K/year or 35-50K/year. It highly depends on where you want to work, and if you are willing to take a lower salary to secure a job.

I myself skipped between AT and PT before finally deciding, hey, why limit myself? I'm currently applying to both PT and AT programs and hoping for the best. I'm pretty sure I will end up with PT, but you never know, and I desperately enjoyed my time working in the training room at Cal, so I didn't want to completely rule out AT if PT doesn't go my way.

Long story short, the pre-reqs for both programs are very similar. If you aren't sure, but want to jump into the application process, do both! It's not like you are making a decision right away. And after you visit schools and see the different programs, you might discover which is best for you.