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I'm the senior physical therapist at a physical therapy office.

Our primary responsibility as staff therapists is direct patient care. This is an outpatient clinic, so we mostly handle orthopedic or sports related injuries. My main job is to do a physical therapy evaluation and make an assessment of a person's injury. Then, I come up with a treatment plan and administer treatment to that patient. From there, I'll implement a home program and set them up for additional visits if needed. Each staff member is responsible for working with local high schools, as well as patients in the clinic. Each week, staff members go to a high school for an hour and meet with students who have injuries. Some of us cover school athletic events. Our clinic also offers personal training, performance enhancement, speed and agility training, and formalized summer sessions. Our emphasis is manual based therapy as well as sports medicine. We focus on a more active population.

I see one patient every 45 minutes, 10 patients per day. Yesterday, one patient had just undergone a total knee replacement. Usually, the surgery involves a two to three day hospital stay, and I like to schedule the first physical therapy appointment for their first day home in order to begin an aggressive therapy program. I got the patient started with exercises, working on range of motion and began teaching him how to walk properly. Yesterday, I also had a college baseball pitcher come in with a strained hip flexor. I assessed his injury and did some manual muscle energy techniques, soft tissue work, and stretching. Part of my day also included mentoring a physical therapy intern; I help interns fill in the blanks when evaluating patients.

Anytime you're dealing with people that hurt or have pain, they're going to be a little testy, angry and upset, and they might direct that energy at you. You have to maintain a calm demeanor to treat and help them. Sometimes people can have injuries plus an illness or other limitation, so you have to adjust treatment to their abilities. If your treatment for a patient didn't work last time, then you have to reassess the injury and come up with a better plan. Time can be an issue as well. Somebody may need a lot of care, but with only 45 minutes per patient, you have to think about maximizing his treatment in the time available. We don't use assistants or aides at our clinic.

I had a student with me who is very bright academically, but needs more practice in the clinic. I let the student do the evaluation on a baseball pitcher's injury and asked her what she thought was wrong. Just from experience and knowing certain cues, I saw what was going wrong with the patient. The student gave me a long list of things we could do. I suggested a muscle energy technique, and after about two minutes of treatment, he could pitch without any pain. Working with a professional teaches the student to not just think in book terms. It encourages them to understand that the more patients you see and the more experience you have, the better you can help people.

Positive. Upbeat. It's a lot of fun. We're always joking around with each other and our patients to make this a place people want to be. We want our patients to know that they're going to get better here, because it's a positive environment. I don't know if I'd say this is typical of my field. This clinic is especially positive.

Professionally casual. Dress code must include comfortable clothes for moving, and training someone may take athletic clothing. We want to portray a professional environment without looking stuffy.

Upon graduation from high school, I wanted to wrestle, because that was my main sport as a student. I had wrestling scholarships at multiple colleges, but I didn't know what I wanted as a career. My father and grandfather convinced me to join the Navy to take time to decide what I wanted to do. My primary job in the service was to wrestle. I was in a major tournament during my third year when I tore my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament in the knee). I had surgery and had to go through physical therapy. I thought therapy was cool. When I got out of the service, I chose a school to study physical therapy. I worked as a physical therapy aide and looked into clinics to see more of what the field was all about. I also saw that I liked the manual therapy and sports medicine specialties, because they fit my personality.

When a student graduates from a physical therapy program, he or she will typically be a generalist. When one gets to a specific clinic, clinical needs may dictate what he or she will specialize in. Specializations include pediatric, in-patient, geriatric, and orthopedic, among others. Physical therapists have to continue their education during their professional careers, and through classes, they can specialize in an area of interest. There are certification programs offered by the American Physical Therapy Association. Gaining certifications may put one at a level above fellow therapists. Some clinics have a hierarchy based on years of experience. Placement on the hierarchy may affect salary. I'm certified in orthopedic manual physical therapy, and I'm also a certified strength and conditioning specialist.

Next year I will take a test to be a certified orthopedic specialist.

No. To obtain the title of certified orthopedic specialist I have to take an eight-hour computerized test. This particular program costs about $1300. To be certified in a certain approach, like manual therapy, there are courses you must take and evaluations at the end of the courses. You're evaluated on coursework, written tests and practical exams.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I work from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I work from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. On Fridays, I work from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Our clinic uses varying hours so we can accommodate our patients' differing schedules. Once a week, we cover athletic events at the high schools we work with, and that takes about two to three hours in the evening. During football season, we have a four to five hour night shift on Fridays at the games. During the fall, we also open half days on Saturdays to accommodate athletes. Staff members rotate so each therapist works about every other or every third Saturday.

Opening duties include opening the clinic, turning computers on, checking the answer machine and clinic rooms, and pulling your charts for that day. When the patients arrive, it's pretty much one after the other. In theory, we should end each patient's session after 40 minutes to allow 5 minutes for paperwork. Our staff tends to use most of the time to help patients and do paperwork during lunch or after work hours. Sometimes we'll do paperwork while a patient is exercising and we aren't doing anything manual or physical with them. We also try to maximize our time by working when a patient cancels or is late. We all have about ten patients per day. That leaves about 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening for other duties.

No, we do not have a break schedule except for lunch. We take an hour lunch.

A lot! Nothing is status quo. Everybody is different. I could have the same diagnosis with two different bodies or two different problems. You have to stay flexible, because you never know what you're going to get.

New graduates are starting out at around $45,000-47,000 a year, and it goes up from there. Salary usually increases annually (typically a three percent raise), and at some clinics, certifications give you a step increase in salary as well. Salary depends on the type of clinic you work at. Physical therapists that work in hospitals make a bit more than those working in private practices. Therapists in nursing homes make even more money.

Most people like the freedom within a private practice, and treating patients how they want to treat them. Some like treating the acute injuries in the hospital. Choosing a workplace has a lot to do with the confidence and comfort level of the person. It's rare that a person will start and end their career in a hospital or nursing home.

Not financial compensation. Making other people feel better or getting athletes back to their sports are forms of compensation.

For my standard 40 hour job, I probably need 45 hours to finish everything. Sometimes it's a little more. Rarely, it's less. It can easily stretch out to 50 including the hours I spend covering athletic events.

The only traveling I do is driving to and from the schools that we cover. Most of them are local schools. Our farthest school is 30 miles away.

Being a professional with a decent income has allowed me to have a nice house and live an area that I like. I think from a social point of view, my peers respect me. I am relied on to help or fix everybody. My job doesn't interfere with dating or my family life except for the occasional rearranging of a schedule to cover an athletic event or taking work home to research or study. I also get to meet a lot of people and am involved in more social circles because of this.

A lot. It's a very stable job - not just because people are always getting injured, but there's just a great need for physical therapy in a variety of areas. Healthcare can limit stability to a point regarding reimbursement rates and salaries, but other than that, it's very stable profession.

We get three weeks vacation. I spread mine throughout the year.

I would like to be able to retire between 55 and 60 years old. When you work in a private practice, you have to rely more on your 401(k) or other pension plans. You have to put money into a retirement plan in order to get money when you're done working. If you work at a hospital or university, benefit plans or programs can be more advantageous. These workplaces may provide a pension when you retire.

The most frustrating part of my work is that I can't always heal everyone. Physical therapists have to set reasonable goals and accept limitations in patient progress. The most satisfying parts of my job are meeting a variety of people, making a lot of people happy and getting a good workout. I know I'm going to be able to help a lot of people.

There have been times I've sacrificed some really good salary opportunities and leadership positions in the corporate world, but I'm much happier in a private practice. There have been times when I sacrificed my personal, social and recreational lifestyle to accomplish goals when gaining a certification. Sometimes you compromise some of your independence to conform to your work environment.

The biggest changes over the years involve healthcare trying to dictate what physical therapists can and cannot do, how much we charge and the size of our salaries. Changes in general healthcare have limited the amount of time we can spend with a patient.

Yes. There are now standardized exercise programs on computers, and more equipment is involved to make therapy more functionally adaptable to performance. But a manual therapist has his hands and his mind. Technology doesn't change the fact that he gains knowledge by experience.

It continues to grow because people are staying active longer.

The only economic factors that affect my profession are certain limitations on individual healthcare plans, like limits on how many visits patients may have. Also, if people have a fear of financial trouble stemming from medical costs, they may not utilize what insurance they do have. Co-payments can add up.

Physical therapists have an organization (the American Physical Therapists Association), which includes lobbyists and opportunities for continuing education, but therapists do not have a union.

If I would have known I was going into physical therapy, I might have taken more specific classes in high school or earlier on in my college education in order to prepare myself. The path I chose was an evolving curve, and I'd say that's probably true for most people in this field. You become the physical therapist you want to be based on how much effort you put into it.

For the most part, you have to be extroverted. Having an athletic background helps, especially in a private practice setting. You have to be reasonably academically smart. You need good analytical, critical decision-making, and psychological skills. You have to have some compassion and understanding. You have to be able to motivate and encourage people - be their teacher, educator, coach and cheerleader. You need good time management skills. You have to be an active listener. You also need a degree of humor, because you need to make therapy fun.

The first thing employers look for is previous experience. Any certifications or advanced coursework are considered in the hiring process. Where a job applicant went to school doesn't really matter - what he or she has done since graduation is more important.

During an interview, an employer wants to know your goals and what you can do for the clinic based off previous experience and future plans.

This would differ depending on the specific clinics where one applies. Our clinic looks for physical therapists or athletic trainers certified in strength and conditioning because of the highly athletic population we service. Things are more specialized now, and practices are looking for people who have exposure to and experience in specific jobs they're looking to fill.

There's a lot that isn't in the books. You have to be able to read people, know how to motivate people and how to communicate with someone in a way that leads to mutual understanding and learning. You have to have people skills. You need to be able to relate to the types of patients you're seeing to some degree. If I'm going to treat a baseball player, I need to know about baseball. Some of that kind of knowledge comes from experience.

Continue to be who I am. Keep taking courses to perfect my clinical skills.

To become a physical therapist, you have to pursue an undergraduate degree and apply to a Doctorate of Physical Therapy program. You can study anything during your undergraduate education. The doctorate program is two full years, and then three nine-week clinicals must be completed after graduation. After clinicals, you can take your state board examinations and get your license. There are miscellaneous clinicals throughout the doctorate program as well. You may have six-week clinicals during the summer.

During the doctorate program, clinicals involve getting out of the classroom and observing and practicing physical therapy in clinics. After school, clinicals involve evaluating and prescribing treatment for physical therapy patients under the supervision of an instructor at the clinic you're working at. During these last clinicals, you're striving for entry-level competencies.