Why I Want to Be a Physical Therapist

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I have been exposed to the medical field my whole life. My Mom was a nurse and I would love to listen to the stories she told about her time in the hospital. If anybody asked me at the age of five what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say “a nurse like my mom.” A few years later I decided I wanted to be a doctor from the few times I got to watch the television show “ER”. The beginning of my interest in physical therapy was when I met my fourth grade pen pal, Elmo, at a nursing home. Elmo had muscular dystrophy and only retained control of his right arm and pinky which allowed him to manouver his wheelchair. During one visit where we got to spend the whole day with our pals, the physical therapist at the nursing home came to see Elmo. I was allowed to stay and I remember thinking it was so cool that there was one person to help Elmo retain the little muscle tone and mobility he had left. In sixth grade, my class went to the hospital to sing Christmas caroles and I remember the coolest place being the physical therapy room. I thought it was amazing how patients were learning to walk again or throw a ball. During the ninth grade, I injured my knee playing soccer. The initial MRI did not show any tears, but the orthapedic surgeon did notice I was weak medially and that my patella was tracking laterally. He sent me to therapy to strengthen the inside of my leg and hopefully pull my kneecap medially. I started going to therapy and I adored my therapist, Kelley. Even though the exercises weren’t always fun or pain free I looked forward to therapy. She made things fun, and since I was interested in the field, would explain why I was doing certain exercises compared to others. The pain didn’t go away and she worked to help figure ... ... middle of paper ... ...apist, I would like to continue working with athletes and non-athletes to help prevent injury. From a young age I was interested in the medical field. As I became more exposed to the various options, I decided physical therapy was the right career for me. My experience has proved the field to be interesting and fun. I enjoy working with people and the versatility of therapy. There are many areas to specialize in and I look forward to learning which one is right for me. At the moment I am interested in pediatric acute care but I am also interested in sports and orthopedics. As I continue my studies, I look forward to learning about the different fields in which physical therapy will take me. My future views may change which physical therapy field I wish to pursue, but right now I look forward to learning as much as I can about physical therapy and helping others.

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