Strength

[francium]

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So a lot of my family members are questioning my future career in PT because I'm petite, and don't have a lot of upper body strength (not yet, I'm planning on working on that a bit during the summer). However, I've met some awesome PTs who were also pretty "skinny", petite, etc. Thoughts on this?

 

[SnowyRox]

You'll develop the upper body strength needed.

My favorite PT, who is flown around the country for her work so I'm not the only one who loves her, is a thin, finely-boned lady. And she is great at what she does. She does have more arm muscles than I do, but she's in no way bulky.

 

[Azimuthal]

Many of the PTs I have worked with are petite and they seem to carry their PT duties just fine. Need leverage for traction? Use a traction belt, lol...

 

[francium]

Need leverage for traction? Use a traction belt, lol...

/Ba dum tssshh. Thanks for the advice you two. 🙂

 

[goyo1010]

So a lot of my family members are questioning my future career in PT because I'm petite, and don't have a lot of upper body strength (not yet, I'm planning on working on that a bit during the summer). However, I've met some awesome PTs who were also pretty "skinny", petite, etc. Thoughts on this?

You'll be fine. PTs are known as the kings and queens of biomechanics. You'll learn to use this to your advantage in school and in the clinic. There are limitation to biomechanics of course, e.g. lifting a 300 lb. patient if you have a petite body. There are PTAs and PT Aides that are there to help when necessary, and even other PTs. But putting on some muscle never hurt anyone. =]

 

[Seatown87]

Strength shouldn't be an issue. We had a SDPT interning at our clinic who was SUPER tiny and she had some trouble doing some manipulations on larger people because her hands were so small. Just be creative and you can make it work.

 

[djb051]

I am petite as well, and I have also had a few people question my ability to be a physical therapist due to my size and to be able to help move a much larger patient. I did not and do not let that discourage me from trying to become a physical therapist and you should not either. I have seen many physical therapists that are as small as me that are able to perform their job well. I do believe that you will also develop more strength over time as well. I shadowed a few petite physical therapists in their 50s in inpatient. One of the petite PT's encountered a 450 lb patient and she was able, for the most part, still able to conduct treatment by herself. She said there are a few times where she has more difficulty, but during those situations, she will have another physical therapist on the floor or the nurse on duty at the time help her out. She said she developed a lot of strength over time to help with the larger patients.