This was a turning point in my life and I started to do the research to find out the steps that I would have to go through to find out how to make this career come to life. As I fired up my computer I found several online colleges that offered classes to prepare me for my new career and sent off for more information.
Salary and Benefits
There were several more reasons why I decided to start out in this profession. I think the main reason I wanted to pursue this career was because of the closeness with the public. Then another reason was the fact that a PT can make great money. It's true that you will have to put in the years in college but it would really be worth it. With a master of physiotherapy or even a doctor of PT the training programs can last up to three years. And the average salary for physical therapist can make up to $90,000 to $117,000 a year (http://physicaltherapysalary.org/). You have a good variety of where you will be and chances are not likely that you will be at a desk for very long at a time. You need to be up interacting with your patients and making a difference in someone's life.
Schools
I chose Emory University as my University of my choice. A professional doctorate is a Doctor of PT or DPT. To prepare physical therapists for a practice in a health care environment the transition from the Master of PT degree to a professional doctorate was made. Unique in health care is the physiotherapist's expertise in movement and movement dysfunction. The educational needs of the PTs have gotten bigger than that of an independent practitioner as their societal and health care roles and responsibilities have grown.
Degree and Certificate
A doctor of physical therapy degree is earned by students in the Division of PT at Emory. The program will start in June and will last three years until May in the third year. The majority of the required credits that a student needs for graduation must be earned at Emory University School of Medicine. The function of the human body along with the study of normal structure and the principles of movement science across the life span is what the students study for the first two semesters. During the 3rd semester the students study the pathophysiology and disease processes that is mixed with clinical problem solving in concurrent classes that have part time education with clinical experiences. Before a student gets a degree they need to complete 36 weeks of full time clinical internship at sites which carry the diverse condition in which physiotherapists study. The students from Emory get to choose from clinical education places around Metropolitan Atlanta and around the nation. The students come back to Emory to complete their research and to choose elective courses in different areas during the last semester in the DPT program. All physical therapists must take a state licensure examination after graduation. To take this state exam graduation from an accredited therapy program is required.
It’s easy folks to develop relationships, that’s generally what the type of person that is successful, extroverted and out going but do you combine that with the object of result so in physical therapy, it’s about measuring a lot of things, both of a hand held anemometer, we use a hand held anemometer here, we use and chronometry, we also have bioelectrical impedance analysis where we do body compositions in a segmental way so measuring things I think is important because it shows objectively your work, it’s not personal, it’s not about me versus the chiropractor or the other physical therapist or whoever. I measured that guy’s hip inter rotation, he had fifteen degrees on the left, he had forty five on the right, it’s not personal, it’s not about arguing with anybody, those are the facts and most patients really respond well to the facts, here is what I found, here is what I think is going on, here is what I think you should do.
Is it frustrating for you to see clients led into either training or therapy situations where they have kind of just been brought in by the personality and then they are not receiving the care that they deserve and then maybe how do you identify when that’s happening, what’s a good therapist, what’s not, I know we talked about a few things earlier.
With perfectionalism comes an appreciation for what you do and what you are good at and what you don’t do, what you are not good at and so referring people elsewhere I think is one of the best signs of a professional, as a physical therapist. I had an evaluation of a fellow who came all the way from Bedford, it was an hour and fifty minute drive one way, he had seen a chiropractor, a physical therapist and a primary care doctor, he has seen at least four people and he had back pain for about six months and he still isn’t any better. In fact, even on his examinations, the examinations alone increased his symptoms, what I found, a lot of time with him, was that his back pain was really coming from his left hip where he had limited inter rotation and a joint problem so I referred him to another orthopedist in Lynchburg to get evaluated and get an x ray of his hip, I think he has arthritis, so that’s me saying “Hey, look this is what I think is going on, I don’ provide that but I know a guy who does , he is in my network”. I think knowing what you do and doing that well and being comfortable and professional and referring out, so that certainly happens, I think there are a lot of people who are likeable but don’t produce results, so that’ the component, you get someone in the door and you connect with them and you build a report, licenceship, they like you, they like their experience but are they getting results so in our industry, I can dot across the board, success equals results and relationships.
I felt the internship was, one of, if not the most important aspect of the degree. Your future potential employers don’t care as much about your GPA or where you graduate from or what courses you’ve taken, but they care a lot about what are your experiences and where have you interned, because that’s your network, that’s how you connect in your industry. So think big and try to find a biggest best closest internship, what you want to do is possible. If you’re interns here, it basically takes a recommendation from someone that I guess know to at least a phone review, I am going to look over your resume, we’re going to have a conversation to about what you want to do, where you want to go, what your background is, it is mandatory that you have a strength and conditioning or fitness background and also require that students are familiar with functional systems and of a movement screen and of the movement assessment, many have the passion for helping and serving other people and so out of my five PT students, I would say one of them was exceptionally bad and that was my first one.
The subsequent four have done really good but one of which was an MBA strength coach for five years, he decided to go back to PT school an UNC and so because we are at functional limit systems headquarters, we do get a chance to have some really awesome interns and applicants but people who love what they do and their passion about their profession, usually in my experience, love having students so you think big, the industry has made our industry in the world really small so it’s easy to connect with people who are doing what you want to do and so I think you have to go for that.
In fact, I would be concerned for students in this industry who are outgoing, who have difficulty cold calling or cold emailing people, I’d actually be concerned about if you are in the right industry or not cause I think that that outgoing personality, personal training at least is a big business, in those settings, it’s not about how good a personal trainer you are or how well you describe the slotting filament theory but it’s actually how good of a salesman are you, can you sell yourself, can you sell what you are providing and that was a huge delay for me, that was a hard lesson for me to learn as an undergrad. It didn’t matter how many courses I took, how my GPA was or how intelligent I thought I was but I needed to be lying about my clients, I needed to be confident enough and willing to reach out to them and pursue those clients, should share with them and demonstrate my value.
It’s easy folks to develop relationships, that’s generally what the type of person that is successful, extroverted and out going but do you combine that with the object of result so in 
With perfectionalism comes an appreciation for what you do and what you are good at and what you don’t do, what you are not good at and so referring people elsewhere I think is one of the best signs of a professional, as a 
I felt the internship was, one of, if not the most important aspect of the degree. Your future potential employers don’t care as much about your GPA or where you graduate from or what courses you’ve taken, but they care a lot about what are your experiences and where have you interned, because that’s your network, that’s how you connect in your industry. So think big and try to find a biggest best closest internship, what you want to do is possible. If you’re interns here, it basically takes a recommendation from someone that I guess know to at least a phone review, I am going to look over your resume, we’re going to have a conversation to about what you want to do, where you want to go, what your background is, it is mandatory that you have a strength and conditioning or fitness background and also require that students are familiar with functional systems and of a movement screen and of the movement assessment, many have the passion for helping and serving other people and so out of my five