Physical Therapy Informative Essay

Physical therapy was listed as one of the top ten jobs in high demand by The Conference Board and Forbes magazine in 2014. The demand for physical therapists is expected to grow 34% between 2014 and 2024, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. According to the Bureau of Statistics, “There is a high demand for physical therapist in the workforce”(American Physical Therapy Association). The reason for this high increase is that sports injuries themselves are on the rise. Most people don’t consider physical therapy as their first option rather they choose surgery. Oftentimes people choose surgery when it’s not even necessary. In some studies, surgery has been surprisingly ineffective. Andrea Avruskin, a spokesperson for the

Jessie Mathers, a physical therapist from Duke University Medical Center, stated that “ I see people every day with back pain, physical therapy can be an invaluable tool in reducing back pain and getting people back to the activities they love”(Mathers 00:00:18-25). Physical therapy can be useful when trying to reduce back pain. Physical therapists are likely to teach you how to do an exercise program so we can do it on our own at home and continue to work toward the desired fitness goals and prevent future problems. “The body’s core is made up of abdominal muscles, hip, pelvic, and spine muscles that help support your spine. Having a strong core can help prevent back pain and alleviate back pain”(Mathers 00:00:41-52). Doing specific exercises that the physical therapist assigns can help strengthen the body’s core to relief and reduce back pain. Injured athletes can also perform physical therapy to help their injured muscles gradually gain strength. Aquatic physical therapy is a helpful sports physical therapy form for injured athletes as it allows them to perform physical movements using the injured muscles without exerting them to a great extent. Aquatic sports physical therapy uses the buoyancy of water to make movements of injured muscles easier and painless. Healthy athletes can perform sports physical therapy to increase core strength and muscle strength in different parts of the body. Other exercises include: stretching to reduce stress on joints, core stability exercises to strengthen the muscles of your trunk and hips, lifting weights to strengthen muscles, walking, doing water aerobics, and other forms of