DPT with disabilities

[Absentminded]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Posting for the practitioners to chime in. In short, I'm starting a 2nd career in my late 30's. I discovered in my first career as a CPA that the combination of ADHD and Scheuermann's disease (with 4 herniated discs now) is absolute TORTURE. I just can't do a desk job. I can manage the ADHD, I already have a graduate degree and high GPA's and can get a degree in absolutely anything. I'm not worried about getting the DPT. What I'm worried about is what happens when a DPT has physical disabilities as well.

My reason for choosing DPT, is it puts me in a place where it is easy for me to manage my own disability (which you wouldn't know I had unless I told you or you were poking my foot and laughing because I can't feel it). Everything I need is right there. Secondly, I would never have to sit all day or hunch over a stupid laptop and I would be active, which makes me feel worlds better. The rest of it is because I really like the therapists I have worked with over the last decade and the results that they can have with people. If I were to attempt to specialize in sports rehab or pediatrics, what kind of physical demand would there be on me? If the disability progressed to where I had a limp and might not be able to catch an obese patient (or a 350lb football player), would using safety harnesses with those higher risk patients be enough to still allow me to do my job?

The PT's I know say I'd be just fine, but I don't think they are capable of being negative with their "you can do anything attitudes"...lol. Thanks.

 

[jblil]

The best way to find out if you can physically do the job is to shadow a few PTs, in various settings.

BTW, lots of PTs want to work in sports rehab or with "elite athletes". Few actually get to do it... And pediatrics usually pays the least. So please make sure you have realistic expectations before you take the leap. Also, look at the DPT new-grads' salary survey; ours are a far cry from MDs' starting salaries, since you considered med school at one time.

 

[Absentminded]

Thanks for responding. To be honest, I don't want to work with elite anything. I am just talking about your typical sports injuries in the general public. I already know that DPT pay is pathetic compared to the education required. Even the feds stop at gs-11 where an accountant with a B.S.(or an AS with 24 credit hours of accounting) has working grade gs-12. I am expecting a pay cut... It is something I am willing to trade for quality of life.

 

[starrsgirl]

I think you would be fine physically. There are certain settings that may be a better fit that others, but I think you can find ones where you can protect your own body. I'm not very big, so I really can't lift anyone larger than me. I'm not catching an obese pt or lifting a football leg anytime soon. But I do the best I can and use the lifts as necessary or get extra help.

The tuition is expensive and the pay is not great. I recommend running those financial numbers since you are a non trad (years of pay lost while going back to school, tuition expense, expected income).

 

[scrawnyguy]

Honestly I don't think there are many of us who can catch someone who weighs 350 lbs. That's a helluva lot of weight to stop. During an internship I did at a rehab hospital and had at least on patient around this size. We had to use a special harness and it still took multiple people to get then situated. You might have some physical limitations, but I think it's still doable. A field like neuro rehab would probably be out of the question because that often involves patients who can't move much on their own, but other specialties aren't nearly as physically strenuous and would probably be better on your back.

 

[Absentminded]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm also in Sacramento scrawnyguy. 👍

 

[DesertPT]

A field like neuro rehab would probably be out of the question because that often involves patients who can't move much on their own

People always say this, but I've seen several therapists who couldn't have been more than 5'3" and 120 pounds working in neuro rehab and they did just fine. That's what techs, gait belts, assistive devices, training in good transfer techniques and hydraulic equipment are for. None of the PTs or OTs I've seen working in neuro have been particularly brawny. And moving people's bodies around passively should just be a means to another end, not a treatment in and of itself the vast majority of the time.

 

[Bones26]

People always say this, but I've seen a several therapists who couldn't have been more than 5'3" and 120 pounds working in neuro rehab and they did just fine. That's what techs, gait belts, assistive devices, training in good transfer techniques and hydraulic equipment are for. None of the PTs or OTs I've seen working in neuro have been particularly brawny. And moving people's bodies around passively should just be a means to another end, not a treatment in and of itself the vast majority of the time.

Agreed. A lot of non-PTs underestimate the power of a gait belt, positioning and leverage.