Physical Therapist Assistant Employment Opportunities

A Wealth of Opportunities

Those on the lookout for a physical therapy assistant career can take advantage of physical therapist assistant employment opportunities offered by various healthcare recruiting companies. Employment opportunities exist in hospitals, facilities for long-term care, clinics, physical therapy centers, schools, nursing homes and sometimes in the homes of patients. Physical therapy has indeed assumed great importance with the expected increase in the population of people in the 75+ age group. Physical therapist assistants perform their duties under the oversight of physical therapists.

If the physical therapist assistants are qualified to do sports medicine, they can do aqua therapy in swimming pools or work part time during sports events. They can find both short term and permanent positions.

Duties of the Physical Therapist Assistant

Here’s a look at some of the duties of a physical therapist assistant:

• Motivates, instructs, and helps patients to enhance functional activities like everyday activities, perambulation, ambulation, and transfer.


• Clerical jobs like answering the telephone, taking inventory, filling out forms, ordering supplies, and taking messages.


• Handling of treatment procedures like exercises, electrical stimulations, hot and cold packs, ultrasound, massages, traction and paraffin baths.


• Educating patients on the utilization and care of prostheses, supportive devices, and orthopedic braces.


• Making use of static and intermittent traction equipment for the alleviation of back and neck pain through traction.

The hiring of licensed physical therapist assistants is common in areas where there is an insufficiency of physical therapists. Physical therapy jobs are well-paid with excellent job stability. Physical therapist assistants working in private practices tend to earn more than those taking up a job in hospitals.

Increasing Demand for Physical Therapy Assistants

Likely future developments such as the following would probably create added employment opportunities for physical therapist assistants:

• An increasing use of assistants by physical therapists to cut costs for physical therapy solutions.


• Medical advancements that would enable the survival of more and more trauma patients.